Eri Kusyanti (right) holds a baby girl while her mother Mufidhatul Afi (left) looks on. Eri provided shelter for both the mother and daughter after the Mount Merapi eruptions. JP/Hasyim Widhiarto
Shower of volcanic ash from Mount Merapi had rendered his house unfit to live in, but 54-year-old Yuli did not care.
Instead, the resident of Pandowosari village in Sleman regency, Yogyakarta, preferred to lend a helping hand at a makeshift shelter for evacuees in his village hall, located 100 meters away from his home.
He said that when Merapi, the world’s most active volcano, coughed up its biggest eruption
last Thursday, hundreds of residents living on its slopes fled to safety in panic, flocking to the
village hall.
“By morning, the hall was packed with 800 people, leaving village authorities at a loss since they did not have sufficient supplies of food and water,” Yuli told The Jakarta Post.
At the time, Yuli said he and other residents from all walks of life did not wait for instructions. They left their ash-covered homes to assist the evacuees as best they could.
“Some of us helped the village officials by buying water and instant noodles downtown while others took the injured and sick to clinics and hospitals by car or motorcycle,” Yuli said.
Yuli, who works as a driver, also opened up his own doors to evacuees who needed to use the bathroom.
“We are all victims, there are no barrier between us and the evacuees. Now my house is theirs too,” he said smiling.
The Pandowosari shelter, located 23 kilometers away from Merapi, saw 900 evacuees take shelter there on Wednesday.
Residents blend in with military personnel to collectively prepare rice packages for Merapi refugees in a public kitchen in Magelang, Central Java. JP/J. Adiguna
Currently, the shelter has become a key supply post, serving meals not only to evacuees housed there, but also those in nine other nearby shelters.
“Honestly, we’re a little ashamed because we have done almost nothing to help villagers cope with the influx of evacuees. They’re handling almost everything here,” said Afan, a student volunteer from Yogyakarta State Islamic University who arrived at the shelter five days after it was set up.
Since Merapi’s first violent eruptions on Oct. 26, more than 200 people have been killed and 300,000 have had to flee their homes.
The eruptions have also scorched large tracts of forests down its slopes in four regencies in Central Java and Yogyakarta.
But somehow, the disaster has also led to priceless moments, creating strong emotional bonds among survivors — turning strangers into good friends within minutes.
Without any publicity or assistance from any groups or political parties, the residents less affected by the disaster led efforts to help survivors.
In the Central Java town of Boyolali, a local motorcycle club raised funds from passing motorists by performing a motorcycle stunt show at an intersection.
In Kauman village in Klaten regency, a group of local women worked morning and afternoon to prepare meals for evacuees in a small shelter near the area.
“When we opened the self-help public kitchen 10 days ago, we were able to make 350 packed meals, three times a day. However, since the donations we received decreased significantly, we can only make 100 meals now,” Theresia Ekowati, the public kitchen’s coordinator, said.
Theresia, who closed her catering business to work in the public kitchen, said she and other residents would try their best to keep providing meals for evacuees despite a lack of funds.
“We are ready to spend our own money if it comes to that,” she said.
In another shelter located at the Magelang military academy shooting range, 18-year-old Mufidhatul Afi never expected she could find a temporary home for her 15-day-old baby girl.
Her fate took a fortunate twist when she met Eri Kusyanti, a housewife from a village just across the crowded shelter.
Eri said that last week, a day after Merapi’s largest eruption, the entire village experienced a blackout.
“Since I desperately needed to charge my cell phone battery, one of my neighbors told me to go to a new shelter nearby that had a diesel generator,” said Eri, whose husband works in Riau.
It was at the shelter that Eri saw a panicked young woman reporting that her newborn baby had a respiratory problem, believed to be caused by volcanic ash.
“My intuition as a mother said I must help them,” Eri said.
Unplugging her half-charged phone, Eri then jumped into an ambulance taking Afi and her
baby to the nearest community health center.
After getting medical treatment, Afi and her baby were allowed to return home, but Afi was advised to not expose the baby to ash.
Eri said she invited Afi and her baby to stay at her house.
“I feel so relieved,” said Afi, whose husband works out of town. “I just can’t imagine how I would survive without Eri’s help.”
Afi, whose village is located only 15 kilometers away from Merapi’s crater, now stays with her baby in a room at Eri’s house.
When the Post visited them, Afi was busy washing baby clothes in the bathroom while Eri was lulling her baby to sleep on the terrace.
Eri’s nine-year-old daughter approaches the baby and smiles, carefully stroking the baby’s cheeks in her mother’s arm.
“Now, I have a sister,” she said.
