Vulnerable but Empowered by Disasters

KOMPAS/VIDELIS JEMALI

Sanating, 70, a tsunami survivor, shows snacks she produced to be sold at a temporary shelter in Lere subdistrict, West Palu district, Palu municipality, Central Sulawesi, on Sept. 21. Although she has five children and despite her old age, Sanating is still financially independent after the disaster two years ago.

Disasters do not keep many from working, even among the elderly and other vulnerable groups. To avoid depending on others, these people muster extra strength to move onwards.

Sanating (70) wipes her face, drenched with sweat. She is ready to sell her hard-earned work that day. Three plastic containers contain two kinds of confectioneries ready to be sold. The delicacies are still warm. Just like any other afternoon, she plans to go around the complex of her temporary accommodation to peddle her goods.

Just as Sanating is about to leave, guests turn up at her temporary accommodation. One of these guests buys cake off her. The pretty, sweet and soft green-colored cakes and sweet potatoes wrapped in flour are sold out.

The guest even paid more than the delicacies cost. Normally, she pockets Rp 100,000 from selling her goods. This time, she earned around 50 percent more. Sanating typically makes a daily profit of Rp 40,000 from selling her cakes.

“It is enough to buy salt,” said the earthquake and tsunami survivor at the shelter complex in Lere subdistrict, West Palu district, Palu city, Central Sulawesi, on Monday (21/9/2020).

Sanating is a survivor of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Palu city, along with the regencies of Donggala and Sigi, two years ago, on 28 Sept. 2018. Her house, which was located less than 50 meters from the coast of Palu Bay on Jl. Cumi-Cumi, was destroyed.

KOMPAS/VIDELIS JEMALI

Sanating, 70, a tsunami survivor, stands at a temporary shelter in Lere subdistrict, West Palu district, Palu municipality, Central Sulawesi, on Sept. 21.

She lost one of her grandchildren to the disaster, and that grief followed only one month after she had lost her husband, Moh Tahir (82).

Her ruined house cannot be repaired, nor ever inhabited again, because the residential area has been designated a red zone, in which the construction of houses is prohibited. Together with no fewer than 200 other families, she now lives in a shelter.

The 7.4-magnitude earthquake, followed by a tsunami and soil liquefaction, killed 3,124 people, with as many as 705 gone missing and 1,016 unidentified victims buried. The disaster destroyed and damaged 110,214 houses, with the total damage estimated at Rp 24.96 trillion.

Survivors whose houses were heavily damaged still live in temporary shelters, and only a small proportion of them have been relocated to permanent housing.

Meanwhile, the kitchen area at the back of the shelter is 5 meters long and 1.5 meters wide, and only partly covered by the roof of the shelter.

Sanating, like other survivors in Lere, occupies a shelter with a height of 2 meters, a length of 5 meters and a width of 4 meters. The walls are made of plywood, its rough cement floor covered with wax. Meanwhile, the kitchen area at the back of the shelter is 5 meters long and 1.5 meters wide, and only partly covered by the roof of the shelter.

The heat is sweltering. If one were to stay in the shelter from noon to late evening, it wouldn’t even take five minutes to feel sweat dripping down your face.

Sanating has lived alone in the shelter for the last two years. Her five children live elsewhere with their respective families.

The temporary shelter serves as a witness to Sanating’s extraordinary will to live independently. She fulfills her daily needs through her own earnings by cooking various kinds of confectioneries. It doesn’t matter how much she earns; she only wants to be as active as she used to be. Before the earthquake, she used to explore the weekly markets around Palu to sell grilled/smoked fish.

“It is still better to eat the fruits of your labor than waiting around for someone to give it to you,” she said.

KOMPAS/VIDELIS JEMALI

Siti Arfa, 40, a fisherwomen and tsunami survivor, poses next to bags of dried red shrimps, the catch of her fisherfolk group, in Lere subdistrict, West Palu district, Palu municipality, Central Sulawesi, on Sept. 21.

It is her iron will to remain active that prompted Sanating to reject the “convenience” of living with one of her five children. Her profit of Rp 40,000 per day from selling cake is more than enough to pay for her daily living. She believes she should not have to give up if she can still work.

The past calamity does not justify depending on one of her five children, she says. “I have to move a little every day so it doesn’t hurt. Alhamdulillah, I have not fallen sick so far and I can still do a little bit of work,” she said, referring to her cake business run out of the kitchen of her shelter.

Because many other survivors were in the same business, she switched to making cakes.

Sanating mustered the strength to keep going three months after the earthquake. At that time, Palu city and other areas still struggled with the emergency response. She had begun working by offering yellow rice for Rp 5,000 per pack. She sold the rice to shelter residents or volunteers that often visited one shelter after another. Because many other survivors were in the same business, she switched to making cakes.

Yellow rice is common on the roadsides of Palu. One portion consists of yellow rice, with pieces of chicken or shredded fish as well as chili sauce.

The business group

For business sustainability, which is facilitated by the Humanitarian Partners Network (JMK)-Oxfam, Sanating and other housewives in the Lere shelter complex joined the Nosarara business group. The group functions as a forum for mothers to motivate each other to develop their businesses.

KOMPAS/VIDELIS JEMALI

Two women prepare to produce smoked fish in Lere subdistrict, West Palu district, Palu municipality, Central Sulawesi, on Sept. 21. Smoked fish businesses have continued to operate after the earthquake and tsunami.

This organization provided a business capital incentive of Rp 1.6 million for each member, a year following the earthquake. Sanating used the capital to buy a blender, a thermos bottle and food containers. “I am still healthy, I will continue to make cakes,” she said.

In Lere subdistrict, JMK-Oxfam formed five business groups with a total of 125 members, mostly women, elderly and disabled people. They are survivors who, before the earthquake, relied on selling seafood from Palu Bay, such as red shrimp and grilled fish. JMK-Oxfam had also provided them with business capital of Rp 1.6 million each to help them continue working after the disaster.

“After the earthquake, life goes on. Yes, we have to keep working,” said Siti Arfa (45), head of Maritime Business Group 1.

This group sells small, dried red shrimp. The Kaili people who inhabit Palu call the shrimp lamale.

KOMPAS/KELVIN HIANUSA

A temporary housing complex for survivors of soil liquefaction in Petobo on Friday. People are waiting to be relocated to permanent housing.

The group chaired by Siti has six members, all of which are her close relatives. Two of them are people with disabilities. Together, they net lamale from midnight to dawn in the outer part of Palu Bay, leave it to dry, then sell it at Rp 40,000 per kilogram.

Apart from support for their production activities, the group members are also trained in online marketing. A number of products are marketed through social media, including smoked fish.

Apart from Palu city, JMK-Oxfam also helps survivors in the villages of Sigi and Donggala regencies. In Sigi, some survivors formed a goat livestock group, others a sago processing group.

Towards the end of September, together with the completion of JMK-Oxfam’s participation in the Central Sulawesi recovery program, each group member was given additional capital of around Rp 900,000 to ensure their businesses will continue to grow.

JMK-Oxfam Recovery coordinator in Central Sulawesi Yospina L. La’bi said that business groups would continue to receive assistance even after the immediate intervention had ended. There are assistants from the local village or subdistrict that are tasked with ensuring the sustainability of the business groups.

KOMPAS/VIDELIS JEMALI

A family at a temporary shelter in Pengawu subdistrict, Tatanga district, Palu municipality, Central Sulawesi, on Saturday. The units in the temporary shelter do not have walls, giving residents no privacy.

Sanating and the other mothers in Lere subdistrict, as well as other places in Palu, Donggala and Sigi have proven that there is no such thing as surrendering after being hit by a disaster. Disasters often spur empowerment.