Yogyakarta quake response update

Summary

Plan has now completed its emergency relief activities in Yogjakarta. Our main focus is now on developing its medium-term programs for the coming two years and the construction of temporary classrooms.

Monday 17 July saw the first day of the new school term. We have established temporary classrooms in 29 Primary Schools and more will be established at other schools. 

The establishment of Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) centres is continuing. So far 44 centres have begun, mainly in the sub-districts of Piyungan, Dlingo and Pleret.

Our distribution of temporary emergency shelters has now reached 32,023 tarpaulins and 28,742 mats. Government estimates still put the number households still in need of emergency shelter at 214,149.

Deaths and Casualties

The latest government figures as at 14 July 2006:

• Deaths: 5 778
                      
• Injured: 37 883
• Houses destroyed: 205,057
• House damaged: 202,044

The latest government figures for Bantul District as at 15 July state that 914 schools have been destroyed.

Emergency Relief

As already stated the emergency relief phase has ended. Plan has distributed a total of 32,023 tarpaulins and 28,742 mats for emergency shelter as well as 4.562 hygiene kits covering the 4 sub-districts of Pleret, Dlingo, Imogiri and Piyungan.  Tomorrow the last 280 hygiene kits will be distributed in Imogiri sub-district making the total of hygiene kits distributed during the emergency phase 4.842.

Education

Temporary Schools
We erected 64 temporary classrooms at 29 Primary Schools before the 17th of July deadline, and more at another 14 schools in the coming weeks. Distribution of school kits continues, with 78 school boxes to 39 schools having been distributed to date.

In the coming weeks we’ll be asking the school children, school staff and parents about the classrooms and latrines, child-friendliness, degree of comfort, and appropriateness, etc.

Monday morning (17 July) saw the start of the new school term. Thousands of children made their way through the streets and fields to the temporary classrooms provided by Plan and other organisations. The mood on the day seemed upbeat and energetic.

Although positive and exciting, there were concerns over the supply of text books, play and art materials and the proximity of classrooms to each other.

Early Childhood Care and Development
As of July 17, 2006 Plan has established 44 ECCD centres in Pleret, Dlingo, Imogiri and Piyungan sub-district with 4 local volunteers trained for each centre. Approximately 30 children attend each centre.

In addition to training materials, We have provided 1 container of play art materials, monitoring books, reading books, mineral water and plastic drinking glasses, 3 mats and 2 tarpaulins for the centres.  Play art materials will be supplied throughout the supervisory period. At the end of the project period, each ECCD centre will have received 5 containers with play art materials and reading books.

We are currently discussing the possibility of bringing ECCD centres and Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) under one roof in a traditional community-based “Joglo” structure. Letting ECCD activities be carried out in the morning and CFS in the afternoon. This would also provide opportunities to use the structures for other child-centred activities and meetings for women’s groups.

An idea to establish an additional 25 ECCD centres is currently under consideration. This would require finding an additional partner so as not to become too dependent on, and overburden Plan’s current partner, the ECCD RC.

Child Friendly Centres
Together with two local NGOs (Kuncung Bawuk/ KUBA and Rumah Pelangi), Plan is supporting 35 child friendly centres. KUBA runs 26 centres in the subdistricts of Imogiri and Pleret, while Rumah Pelangi is runs 9 centres located in Piyungan. The number of children attending each centre varies from 25 to 100.

Plan and Lestari Indonesia, Plan’s third partner for Child Friendly Spaces (CFS), have finalized their agreement. From Tuesday 18th July, they will begin running children’s activities in 15 new CFS in three villages of Imogiri sub-district.

A two-month assessment, carried out by KUBA, on the most effective and efficient way to establish Child Friendly Spaces was completed on July 12th. This assessment identifies the best way for Plan and its three partners to develop its medium-term CFS program. We are looking into the possibility of enabling CFS to become centres that promote child participation in community development.

School Improvement Program
The School Improvement Program (SIP) will include seven components: developing joyful learning methods, increasing teachers’ motivation, stimulating community and child participation in school matters, increasing school management (head master), ensure that children are healthy and ready for school, developing an appropriate curriculum. Ensuring a child friendly, healthy and safe school environment is also an important aspect of SIP and the FRESH concept is introduced to this end. Temporary classrooms and attention to the school compound will continue to be addressed.

The reconstruction of permanent schools is a potential programme that we will assess. Whether or not Plan will reconstruct schools depends on the reconstruction activities already planned/undertaken by the GoI and INGOs, as well as on the availability of funds. 

Water & Environmental Sanitation

• Plan is constructing water and sanitation facilities for schools in Imogiri, Piyungan, and Pleret. To date 28 schools have received wat/san facilities consisting of latrines (a minimum of 3 toilet seats per school) and water storage. 
• 4.842 hygiene kits for families have been distributed to households in Piyungan sub-districts. 1.544 hygiene kits have been distributed to two hospitals in Bantul and PMI (Indonesian Red Cross) posts.
• If funds prevail and depending on the needs identified by the public health office of Bantul district we will distribute another 5000 kits to Bantul District.

Child Protection

According to our consultant and other psycho-social researchers there is a gap in appropriate psycho-social training for school staff which lacks practical know-how.

The report highlights the essential skills required for school staff include, being alert to symptoms of stress, being able to apply child friendly listening and communication skills and knowing when and how to refer a child to more specialised child care services.

Providing primary school teachers with relevant psycho-social skills, training ECCD centre cadres and CFS facilitators are other recommendations. Which help children address trauma and stress, as well as generating general knowledge of how to interact with children of different age groups, in the most effective and child friendly manner.

Addressing stress that parents experience is another component of the programme. Providing parents with an opportunity to share their worries, problems and questions regarding a whole range of issues will likely improve their psycho-social condition and enhance their relationship with their children.

ECCD centres will target the 1-6 age group. 6-13 year olds through primary school and CFS and 13-18 will be targeted via focus group discussions. Additional methods addressing the psycho-social situation of adolescents (13-18) are being studied.

Plan has decided to integrate a psycho-social component into its School Improvement Program.