Reaching the most remote areas hit by the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami that devastated the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, on 28 September, to provide assistance to people still isolated from humanitarian aid: this is the main objective of the mobile clinics activated by INTERSOS , in collaboration with the IBU Foundation, in the city of Palu and in the surrounding districts.
The intervention of our mobile clinics, through appropriate medical kits brought by air, focuses on people injured during the earthquake, children and pregnant women. Dozens of consultations are carried out every day. Respiratory infections and diarrhea are the most frequently encountered pathologies. Lack of food and poor sanitation are concerning for the possible impact on the deterioration of people’s health, with the risk of the spread of epidemics, especially among the most vulnerable, such as children and pregnant or lactating women.
In particular, during the last days, our mobile clinics have reached three of the most heavily affected districts have long been isolated from aid – the Sigi district, an area south of Palu devastated by the earthquake, that of Donggala on the northeast coast of Palu, heavily hit from the tsunami, and that Sibalaya Utala – where our team is providing primary health care.
Access to medical care is limited by the interruption of many roads and the lack of doctors, who escaped during the disaster. The health structures still in operation are under extreme pressure and can not bear the burden of needs.
The city of Palu, from the coast line up to 300 meters inside is razed to the ground. Access to drinking water and food is still insufficient in the whole area affected by the earthquake. In the tented camps and temporary settlements set up to shelter displaced people, there are no toilets. Overland connections are problematic because of the damages suffered by the road network and the security problems that, in the first days after the disaster, have led to the looting of number convoys of local NGOs.
The island of Sulawesi was hit last September 28 by an earthquake of magnitude 7.5 followed by a tsunami with waves up to 6 meters high. Over 2 thousand people died according to the latest official count, still being updated, with an undetermined number of missing people, about 5 thousand according to estimates, including 2 thousand children. Displaced people are over 80 thousand. The number of people affected by the earthquake and in need of humanitarian aid reaches 1.5 million, according to estimates by the International Red Cross.