Reaching out to flood victims

Christian radio helping in Jakarta

More rains over the weekend made an already miserable situation worse. Residents working in waist-high mud salvaged family photos from washed-out neighbourhoods in Jakarta as fresh rains triggered more flooding.

Up to 60% of the city was under water at one point, but rains had slowed enough to receded in many middle-class districts. Conditions remain grim in narrow riverside alleys where the city's poor live. The government indicates between 240,000 and 400,000 people were unable to return home.

Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC) Indonesia is reaching out to disaster victims, distributing water and food to those stranded on the outskirts of the city. They are also collecting blankets, clothes, soap, and medicine to assist the 430,000 displaced persons battling dehydration, diarrhoea, skin infections, and influenza due to water-borne illnesses from the floods.

As an extension of their broadcast ministry, FEBC-Indonesia reaches out to people in need through an emergency program called Heartline Care, offering aid in the critical hours following a disaster. The ministry has been instrumental in helping survivors of other recent disasters, including 2 major earthquakes in the past couple of years and the 2004 tsunami.

Web Links

• FEBC Indonesia
• FEBC International