Amelia Rosa, 14, was busy reading a textbook in a library located in a shelter for earthquake victims in Korong Ambung Kapur, Padang Pariaman regency in West Sumatra.
Her house was destroyed in the earthquake that hit the province on Sept. 30, 2009. Along with 121 other families in the area whose houses were ruined, the Aksi Cepat Tanggap (ACT) Foundation built a temporary shelter for homeless victims.
The shelter, which stands on a soccer field, has plywood walls and a corrugated roof. More than a place to live, it also has a library, a place of worship and a study center for students whose elementary school buildings were damaged.
"I and my friends study here almost every day. I have to prepare for the national exam in March. I don't want to fail just because of the disaster," said the third-year student of SMP Negeri I Padang Sago state junior high school.
Even though the library has a collection of only 200 books, mostly textbooks, it helps the students a lot. What's more, ACT provides tutors to give extra lessons for students who live in the shelter.
ACT Foundation program officer Subeni said that ACT built three shelters in three regencies for 427 families who lost their homes in the disaster.
All of the shelters were built with complete facilities, including a children's playground.
"We built the shelters to accommodate the victims for between one and one and a half years, until the government helps them rebuild their houses," he said.
ACT Foundation is one of several NGOs helping earthquake victims in West Sumatra. It has worked in the field since the emergency period and during the ongoing reconstruction period.
ACT has also provided a shelter to accommodate homeless earthquake victims at Maninjau Lake in Agam regency because they cannot rebuild their houses at the old site, which is prone to landslide.
Subeni said ACT could work largely because of funds provided by both national and multinational companies such as PT Unilever, PT Telkomsel, Philip Morris, PT Sampoerna, and Tupperware.
Other NGOs that have lent a hand to earthquake victims in West Sumatra include Dompet Dhuafa, Plants Internasional-Indonesia, Handicap International, Muslim Aid and Jenggala. They have also received funding from several companies.
Some companies directly channeled funds to victims during the one-month emergency period, providing victims with food and health services. Some also channeled funds through NGOs dealing with disaster for the construction of public facilities, including schoolhouses and mosques.
According to the Astra Group, it disbursed Rp 3 billion under its CSR program for food, clothes, medicine, tents and heavy equipment. PT Semen Gresik and PT Semen Padang also conducted similar activities while a number of banks and cellular phone operators implemented other CSR programs for victims.
Padang Pariaman Regent Muslim Kasim expressed gratitude to companies with CSR programs that involved Padang earthquake victims. He said that many disaster victims in his area had received help from various parties, including companies, during the emergency period.
But he criticized companies that handed over support directly to victims, saying they had made use of the media exposure while the impact of their aid was not significant.
"I think it would be more effective if the support is managed by NGOs as it seems that they really work among the people and know what to do. They have helped us a lot, both during the emergency period and during today's reconstruction and rehabilitation phase," he said.
Padang Pariaman regency was the worst hit area. A total of 87,167 houses were damaged, 57,931 of them heavily. A total of 331 schools, from elementary schools to high schools, were also heavily damaged.
"The reconstruction of schools has reached only 30 percent. Most schools have only received a Rp 1 billion commitment each for reconstruction, mostly from television viewers and newspaper readers," he said.
Muslim believes that companies have a lot of CSR funds that could help earthquake victims, especially for the rehabilitation and reconstruction.
"But the support for rehabilitation and reconstruction is still small," he said.
Meanwhile, Subeni said it would be more effective if companies channeled relief funds through experienced NGOs.
"NGOs have networks in the regions; they can conduct assessments to find out which locations need the most help, and make programs needed by the victims so that they can make objective judgments. If the funds are managed by a company itself, I'm afraid the support will be given to people they are close to, while in the disaster, everybody needs help. We need to set priorities," he said.
