International aid organization Oxfam today dispatched four truckloads of hygiene kits, water supplies, and sanitation equipment to assist survivors of the tsunami that struck the west coast of Java, Indonesia, yesterday. After a 7.7-magnitude earthquake shook the ocean floor, powerful waves up to five feet high surged inland, flattening buildings in their path, killing several hundred people, and displacing tens of thousands.
A team of six from Oxfam’s program office in Yogyakarta is assessing the needs of survivors today.
“We’re concerned that many people will have fled their homes,” said David Macdonald, Oxfam’s country program manager for Indonesia. “Our humanitarian team is on the ground today, and we have water and sanitation supplies in place. The local population relies on wells for fresh water supplies, and these could have been contaminated by the wall of sea water that crashed into the coastal towns.”