Rise Up, Palu!
On September 2018, there was an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 at the coastal city Palu and Donggala in the state of Sulawesi, Indonesia. The multiple tsunamis following the earthquake resulted in 2,200 deaths and 70,000 flood victims. It was reported that over 190,000 people were in dire need of aid and a large number of people were missing.
On December 2018, JTS worked with the local NGO group Yayasan mutira sis aldjufri Palu to provide aid items such as tents, blankets, 25kg of rice, a set of 16 kitchen items, and t-shirts to 3,000 families affected by the earthquake in 16 different villages. JTS experienced many difficulties in delivering the relief aid supplies due to skyrocketing prices and damaged roads. Supplies that could not be transported by land were delivered by boat from a nearby island.
After observing the hopeless expressions of the earthquake victims, JTS relief aid workers at the site designed t-shirts containing a message of encouragement. The message reads “PALU KUAT” and “PALU BANGKIT”, which mean “Hang in there Palu” and “Rise up Palu” in Indonesian.
About 40-50 local residents participated as volunteers in the distribution of the relief aid supplies. Village residents who received the supplies looked as happy as if they had received early Christmas gifts. The bright smiles of the people give JTS aid workers the greatest sense of fulfillment.
