Indonesia’s Lombok has been jolted by two major earthquakes and hundreds of aftershocks in the past week with a 6.4 on July 29 and an even more devastating 7.0 on August 5.
The death toll of the 7.0-quake has been continuing to climb (it’s estimated at anywhere between 226 to 381, depending on who you ask), hundreds have been wounded, and thousands have been forced to evacuate their homes. Electricity has gone dead in parts of the island, clean drinking water has been difficult to access, and local residents have been afraid to go inside structures, fearful that they could collapse.
There is a handful but dedicated group of NGOs on the ground that have sprung into action with the relief effort, passing out supplies, helping make temporary shelters, and rebuilding.
Here’s an index of NGOs and community members with active crowdfunding campaigns to help the victims of the Lombok earthquakes.
Lombok Forgotten Children: Endri Foundation
The foundation, which is based in Lombok and is dedicated to assisting the island’s sick, poor, disabled, and displaced has its hands full after the past two earthquakes. A fundraising campaign has been launched on GoFundMe to get support for the foundation’s relief effort, which needs fuel for its vans that are moving food and aid around (a lot of food is being donated by hotels, according to the organization), medical supplies, and plastic covers to build basic shelters.
The Mataram-based orphanage suffered major structural damage from the earthquake but is raising funds to rebuild their space, which consists of four dormitories for children, classrooms, a mosque, offices, and other supporting facilities. Kids, who are in the foundation’s care because they’ve been abused, exploited, or neglected, are currently camped out on the basketball fields and in need of shelter, according to a video posted by Peduli Anak’s crowdfunding page on KitaBisa.com.
Project Karma & Yayasan Team Action Amed
This one is a cooperative effort between Project Karma, an Australian NGO, and Team Action Amed, which was actually born in response to Bali’s erupting Mount Agung last year. The team has been very hands on, focusing on collecting donated items and funds and distributing supplies to evacuees, like rice, cooking oil, dried beans, sugar, tea, as well as water filters.
The Indonesian Red Cross works directly with the government to assist evacuees and provide aid. They are accepting donations specifically for those in Lombok affected by the earthquakes at this time.
Indonesia Aid, a community development organization, is receiving cash donations but is also collecting supplies to be dropped off in Lombok to people in need. They have a drop off point in Kerobokan for bottled water, cooking oil, cleaning products, medical supplies, flashlights and batteries, blankets, candles & matches, paper plates, and plastic cutlery.
IDEP is focused on assisting evacuees residing in North Lombok’s Bayan district. The organization has already been doing work in this area since 2015. IDEP is fundraising so they can carry out their plan of distributing family buckets across three different evacuation centers. The buckets can be a place to shield valuables from the rain and can store clean water. They are passed out containing provisions with enough to sustain a family for two weeks (nutritious food, coffee, pantry essentials, sleeping mattresses, sanitary products, traditional medicine, blankets, and children’s activity kits).
Earthquake Relief for Lombok: GoFundMe campaign
This is a GoFundMe that is working with some of the other aforementioned organizations, including Endri’s Foundation, Yayasan Team Action Amed, and Project Karma, as well as organizations in the Gilis—they’re waiting to give more specifics about things in the Gilis once power comes back on and proper funding channels are in place.
Supplies collection at The Orchard Bar & Restaurant
Short on cash but have canned food, water, rice, blankets, clothing, or other supplies you would like to donate? The Orchard on Gang Baik, Jl. Nakula is running a collection, with plans for trucks to leave either on Thursday or Friday.
