Rektor UGM Kunjungi Pengungsi Korban Gempa dan Tsunami Sulteng
Rektor UGM Kunjungi Pengungsi Korban Gempa dan Tsunami Sulteng
Rector of UGM, Prof. Ir. Panut Mulyono,M.Eng., D.Eng., visited two refugee shelters for survivors of earthquake and tsunami disasters hailing from Palu, Sigi, and Donggala, Central Sulawesi on Saturday (19/10). The shelters are in Hajj dorms Makassar and Islamic boarding school IMMIM Putra Makassar. The Rector symbolically handed over food aid worth Rp50 million.
The Rector and Vice-Rectors, Dr. Paripurna and drg. Ika Dewi Ana, Ph.D., also Community Service Director, Prof. Irfan Priyambada, were seen unloading the food aid from the trucks to the logistics warehouse in the shelters.
Furthermore, the Rector had a dialogue with the refugees who now account for 400 people. In the early days after the disaster the number reached some 4,000 people. “We have helped send home some of the refugees,” said Yogi, volunteer coordinator.
Of the Hajj dorms, according to Yogi, not all refugees can go home because their homes already collapsed, and some were too traumatic to go home.
Yogi said they still helped those already returning to the disaster areas regarding what they need there. "We have contacted them and asked them what they need, for example mineral water that is still hard to find,” he said.
Anik (44) from Palu said she still stayed in the shelter or sometime spent the night in her relative’s home in Makassar. “I want to go home actually, but water is still hard to find there, and there are still aftershocks. I’m scared,” said Anik who opened a beauty salon in Palu.
While in the Islamic boarding school IMMIM Putra Makassar, there are 160 refugees staying. The UGM Rector distributed aid here and also met a family from Palu. The father and child suffered from broken bones in the disaster that need surgery to be done in Makassar. “My youngest child and my husband had to have surgeries because they had broken their legs,” said Ati Ningsih (55).