When disasters strike, families and communities can lose everything. And in the aftermath, children are left vulnerable and struggling to survive under desperate circumstances, at risk of hunger, cold, disease, and violence. One of the things children need most is a safe source of clean water to drink and bathe in.
Cleony is nine and lived with her family in Sigi in southern Sulawesi, Indonesia, before the earthquake and tsunami devastated her island in September.
She was at home with her mother and her two-year-old sister, Cleora, when the disaster struck. Terrified, they fled the house through the moving ground.
“Our belongings were falling and breaking, blocking our path as we tried to run out of the house”, Cleony remembers.
“Afterwards, we gathered with the other villagers in an open field where we stayed the night.”
The disaster killed 2,081 people and left 206,494 with nowhere to live.
Providing Immediate Assistance to Children in Indonesia
Since the disaster struck, ChildFund supporters have been helping provide urgent aid to children like Cleony and Cleora.
In the earliest days, villages were completely destroyed and hundreds of thousands of people were cut off from essentials like food, water and shelter.
“In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake on Sulawesi, ChildFund in partnership with a local NGO is assisting children and their families affected by the earthquake through family kits to enable basic shelter, personal care and hygiene,” ChildFund Indonesia country director Bridgette Thorold said.
“This is very important in ensuring a sense of dignity and well-being.”