Cafod, Christian Aid, Tearfund and World Vision have teams or partner teams responding in Indonesia, The Philippines and Vietnam.
In Indonesia, where latest reports put the death toll at more than 700 with over 300 people still missing, some 200,000 houses have been either damaged or destroyed. There is an increasing urgency to reach the rural villages around the flattened city of Padang that are among the worst affected by the earthquake.
Sibirani, Executive Director of Tearfund’s partner agency KOTIB, speaking from a village where 90 per cent of houses have collapsed, said that people are still sleeping outside their collapsed houses without tents or blankets.
"They are eating food that they can find from within their collapsed houses or what we are giving them," said Sibirani.
"The mosque is currently the food distribution centre because that is one of the few buildings that has not collapsed. There are still some people buried in houses but many areas are inaccessible by vehicle because of the many landslides, especially in the hill areas away from the coast."
Medical supplies are urgently needed for many people that have been injured.
"There are not enough medicines and people are becoming sick with no protection from mosquitoes," added Sibirano. "People only have the clothes they were standing in and no other possessions as everything is buried in the rubble."
Cafod are also reaching remote villages in the region and are distributing tarpaulins to families yet to receive any direct aid, over a week after the earthquake. Caritas, a partner agency of Cafod, is providing temporary shelter for 1600 families who were unaware that there were international efforts underway to assist them.
World Vision was on the ground and able to respond quickly across the region.
"In Indonesia, we’re distributing emergency kits, including shelter and provisions for clean water to tens of thousands of people," says World Vision UK Chief Executive Justin Byworth.
"In Vietnam, we're providing relief food assistance to 24,000 people, and in the Philippines, our staff and a huge number of volunteers are working with affected children and families, to help them recover.
"In all three countries, the recovery of children is our focus. We are running a number of Child Friendly Spaces, providing safe places for children to learn basic skills to cope with the shocks and losses they've experienced."
Christian Aid’s Indonesian partners are providing food and essential items, clean water and medical teams to help meet the immediate humanitarian needs of up to 50,000 families - approximately 250,000 people. The programme will then begin to help communities rebuild their homes and livelihoods.
There are some that only employ words for the purpose of disguising their thoughts. - Voltaire
