On Monday evening, German aid organisations began treating drinking water for earthquake victims on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. From their base camp in the disaster area, I.S.A.R. Germany and its cooperation partner BRH Bundesverband Rettungshunde are supplying clean water and electricity to a residential area and a neighbouring tent camp where people who lost their homes in the severe quake and subsequent tsunami have been accommodated. Around 8,000 people now live in this catchment area. Since the relief supplies and the entire emergency team arrived in Palu at the weekend, various locations for the two drinking water treatment plants (TWA) and the power generators they were carrying have been tested. "At the site now occupied in the village of Sigi, south-east of the city of Palu most people can be effectively supplied with water. It was selected in cooperation with the local water supplier," explained I.S.A.R. operations manager Michael Lesmeister (from Kleve in the Lower Rhine region).
The two TWAs "can produce around 6000 litres of clean water every day. But more or less depending on the quality of the raw water used," explained supply engineer Benno Riehl, the water expert in the team, who comes from Lehmen near Koblenz. One of the two treatment plants and some of the generators brought along will remain on site as donations. Local disaster relief workers will therefore soon be trained to operate and maintain them. The 17 cubic metres of cargo weighing four tonnes also contained everything needed to set up a base camp on site for the operation. It is the policy of I.S.A.R. Germany and BRH to be completely self-sufficient in the disaster areas so as not to diminish the scarce remaining resources there.
A joint advance team had already been in Palu since Thursday to get an overview of the situation. A total of 14 experienced experts from the two aid organisations are now working there, including two women. On the island of Sulawesi, a strong earthquake on 28 September triggered a six-metre-high tidal wave that hit the coastal city of Palu, among other places. Around 2000 fatalities have since been recovered. However, 5000 people are still missing in Palu.
