Japan NGO Giving Medical Aid in Flood-Hit Indonesia

Aceh Tamiang, Indonesia, Dec. 23 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese nongovernmental organization is giving medical assistance on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, where deadly floods have caused heavy damage with many local residents still evacuated. According to the Indonesian disaster countermeasure agency, the total number of fatalities from the disaster, caused by heavy rain in late November, stood at 1,106 as of Monday. The Association of Medical Doctors of Asia, or AMDA, which is based in the western Japan city of Okayama, sent a medical team earlier this month to Aceh Tamiang on northern Sumatra. AMDA, set up in 1984, provides medical services in areas in and outside Japan that have been affected by disasters or conflict. It also has an office in Indonesia. In Aceh Tamiang, local residents are still without running water, while a key hospital has been damaged. Local sanitary conditions have deteriorated in Aceh Tamiang, where the death toll reached 88. On Sunday, AMDA set up a medical service base with an Indonesian doctor in a riverside community heavily hit by the disaster. Locals thronged to receive treatment for their injuries or check their blood pressure. Many residents were seen moving mud-covered items out of their homes without wearing masks. Some postdisaster reconstruction staff were working barefoot or only in sandals. According to the NGO, many people cut their feet with broken glass buried in mud, while others complained of sore throat or headache apparently from inhaling dust. The medical team also plans to put emphasis on psychological care to address any cases of post-traumatic stress disorder. Kumiko Sugahara, 46, a nurse living in the central Japan prefecture of Nagano, joined the team Dec. 8. “While I can’t save a lot of people, I hope I can support as many people as possible,” she told Jiji Press. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]