Some viewers might find some of the content of this video disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.
On the night of August 5, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Lombok, the Gili islands and nearby Bali.
The northern area of Lombok was badly affected, with thousands of buildings damaged or destroyed.
Indonesian authorities, The Lombok Forgotten Children, The Karma Project and The Endri Foundations are still working to evacuate and shelter those in need, and have issued varying updates. At least 500 deaths and many hundreds of injuries have been reported so far, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.
The area was hit by a 6.4-magnitude foreshock on July 29, the massive 7.0 Magnitude on the 5th of August and has experienced over 300 aftershocks, including a 6.4 and massive 6.9 tremor yesterday.
I'm in Indonesia surrounded by rubble, death, suffering, heart break and chaos after this massive natural disaster .. The situation on the ground is horrific..
The head of security for my resort in the gilis, Pak Mulyadi, found his wife and 5 year old son dead under the rubble of their home. I've known him for 10 years. Im trying to find the words to comfort him but it's like looking for water in the desert. He's now left to look after 3 young children without his wife. How is he going to find the words to tell them that their Mummy and their sister are gone, and are never coming back.
Everybody is exhausted struggling to deal with the critically wounded, the families of the dead, and the poor locals who have seen their whole villages flattened. Currently there are over 200,000 homeless.
With no water or electricity, provisions and medical supplies are struggling to get through.
We need your help, to pull together and dig in deep to deal with this heart breaking catastrophe.
The reaction and support we have received from our Bali brothers and sisters and the International community has been incredible. The love and solidarity you have shown Lombok in her hour of need. The reaction and action of you some of you guys has been nothing short of HEROIC and the fundraising has been phenomenal.
We've managed to deploy skilled volunteers from all over the world, specialist doctors and nurses, trauma counsellors and many willing and able folk who are digging in with the team.
This is phase one of this tragic event, reacting to and treating the seriously wounded, making people safe, fed and watered, sheltered and loved.
We still desperately need your donations and contributions of food, blankets and supplies coming as most will have been exhausted soon.
As we turn some of our attention towards the more proactive phase two stage of rebuilding, rehousing and minimising suffering.. we need to keep up the momentum.
The Endri Foundation and The Lomboks Forgotten Children Foundation currently are focusing mainly on those who can't help themselves, the elderly, the sick the disabled people and children who will get little or no help.
The next thing we are working on and trying to understand is 'what will the government do provide for?' but more importantly, 'what the government won't' so that we can anticipate this shortfalls and compensate with our aids so that suffering is minimised.
We have an ever growing 1000 strong team and they are getting tons of food, rice, water and organising tents and shelter for the ones who were left homeless.
Very soon the government will be starting supplying them also but they need more time to organise it... Nothing has come so far.
We need more hands on the ground. The scale of the devastation is enormous.
Peter Honey from The Forgotten Children Foundation:
"So we need to grow human capital, we need to put the right resources and tools in the right hands to help reduce suffering, to get things done and moving positively forward..it will be months of work ..but we need to be ready. With over 200,000 people left homeless.
We will let you know exactly what is required"
WHAT'S LEFT OF MY HOUSE IN LOMBOK. IT WAS WELL BUILT SO THE LITTLE HOUSES IN THE VILLAGES DIDN'T STAND A CHANCE!
We are now bringing in people from around the globe to help with the logistics and specialists in building and some developers for phase two.
My intention is to share this tragedy as it unfolds so we can raise awareness, encourage more organizations to get involved and encourage fundraising through the steemit platform or wherever appropriate.
This post is only an overview of the situation.
I will write a series of individual posts discussing various aspects of the earthquake from an educational viewpoint: 'Why did the earthquake happened?' to the chaos that ensued in the mass evacuation of the gili Islands after a false tsunami warning, an update of what's going on on the front line as it happens, an update on what we are doing as an organisation and what we need from both the national and international communities to help us continue to deal with this disaster.
To all my fellow steemians please upvote, resteem and share as much as you can.
If you would like to donate steem or sbd directly please make sure you add Lombok earthquake donation to the memo.
Whatever steem, steem dollars and proceeds I receive from all of these posts will go directly to the foundation I'm working with in Lombok.
So please steem generously.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
Tampi Asih polong polongku
(thank you my brothers in local Lombok sasak dialect)
For those of you who wish to contribute directly in regards to donations, supplies or physical manpower please contact me via DM on Discord: fiftyshadesofguy#8516
I would like to thank all of those who shared their photos and videos with me and gave me their permission to use them in any way to help raise awareness and drive fundraising on this and many other social media platforms. Particularly lombok forgotten children and Endri foundation, pak Mulyadi, the Gili indah village chief, project karma, the Gili Eco Trust