Mount Sinabung: Yemima Hopes She Can Go Home Soon

Kabanjahe, North Sumatra Province -- Yemima, 30, and her husband Herwin, 30, as well as their children Samuel, 2, and Pentri,11, had no choice but to follow the government instruction to immediately leave their village because it was threatened by a Mount Sinabung eruption. Since the government raised the status of Mount Sinabung to red alert on Sunday, 11 November, all people living within a 5 km radius from the peak of the mountain—including Yemima's family—had to leave their villages.

“Since Sunday evening, we have been moving to Tigabinanga,” says Yemima, referring to the traditional market, where her family and 882 other families or around 2,400 people are living temporarily.

Yemima's village often suffers from the falling ash when Mount Sinabung erupts. The ash did not immediately damage the house but can damage the roofs in the long term. If the eruption is stronger, it may threat the lives of people in the village. Yemima describes that the peak of Mount Sinabung shows light, that is followed by roaring sound when the mountain erupts. Immediately the moon light will be covered with ash too.

"The head of the village comes asking the community to be prepared and abandon our houses,” says Yemima, telling her leader instruction.

The villagers also left their village when Mount Sinabung erupted in 2010.

“Our crops are damaged and withered after being covered with ash. Vegetables, tobacco, and tomatoes all withered,” says Hermina, talking about the damage caused by the volcanic ash.

Yemima village is very fertile, so most people works as a farmers. Some of them, however, raise cattle.

“There are some community people leaving evacuation center to see and to feed their cattle,” says Yemima.

Although it is very dangerous, people do it to save their cattle. There are aid distributtions at the evacuation center in Tigabinanga. However, if she could choose, she would choose to go back to her village.   

Through 27 November, more than 16,700 people have to temporarily live in 30 evacuation centers in Kabanjahe and Brastagi, in Karo district.

World Vision has been doing assessment to determine the possibility to distribute aid to the internally displaced people. At the moment, World Vision has prepared 150 package that consist of school bags, books, pencils, pens, rulers and erasers which would soon be distributed to the displaced children to ease their lives.

IDPs in Tigabinanga live temporarily in traditional market as the temporarily shelters.

Elders fill their leisure time in evacuation centre by reading a church flyer

 

Yemima and her daughter in the evacuation centre

*reported by Bartolomeus Marsudihardjo, November 26th 2013