YSI in Sulawesi

YSI, who have been working in tsunami affected areas since 2005, are working in the Philippines and Sumatra, NW Indonesia using grants supplied by BEATS to provide disaster preparedness training and to provide micro enterprise training, for example in sewing, for widows and others so they can support themselves. After the 2018 earthquake, tsunami and liquefaction in Sulawesi, Indonesia BEATS also supplied funds to YSI for initial disaster relief and support to assist communities to become self sufficient again.

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February 2024

BEATS has supplied funding to help enable YSI to run disaster preparedness training courses in Metro Manila, and Bataan in the Philippines. Both of these places are at risk of tectonic movement of the West Valley Fault.

YSI have recognised that normally, in the event of an emergency, approximately only 10% of people know what to do, 10% just panic, and the rest tend to follow someone else. By running these courses YSI aim to increase the number of people who know how to respond in an emergency, and therefore increase the survival chances of more people. Church and NGO leaders attended the course.

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On 28 September 2018, a shallow, large earthquake struck in the neck of the Minahasa Peninsula, Indonesia, with its epicentre located in the mountainous Donggala Regency, Central Sulawesi. The magnitude 7.5 quake was located 77 km (48 mi) away from the provincial capital Palu; it was preceded by a sequence of foreshocks, the largest of which was a magnitude 6.1 tremor that occurred earlier that day. A localised tsunami, its height reaching an estimated 4 to 7 metres (13 to 23 ft), struck the settlements of Palu, Donggala and Mamuju. The combined effects of the earthquake and tsunami led to the deaths of over 2,000 people and more than double that figure seriously injured. The earthquake also caused major soil liquefaction in areas in and around Palu. In two locations this led to mudflows in which many buildings became submerged causing hundreds of deaths with many more missing. The liquefaction was considered to be the largest in the world and was deemed as a rare occurence. (Source: Wikipedia).

YSI followed up the initial disaster relief with helping the villagers to start micro enterprise schemes, and then the formation of a co-operative which has enabled them to free themselves from wholesalers and money lenders and so retain much more of the profit from their produce.

YSI have succeeded in greatly improving the economic position of these communities, far beyond their circumstances prior to the disaster. The co-operative has not only enabled them to get better prices for their produce, it has also helped others in the community start enterprise schemes, for example the production of fertilizer.