"Everything I Have Is Gone"

(2007 Wiwik Widyastuti/CARE)

"We were so lucky because everybody was outside. If only one of us were inside the house I don't know what would happen," said Pak Darkasih, standing in front of the pile of twisted rubble that was once his home. "But now, look at my house. Everything that I have is gone. There is nothing left."

Today, Pak Darkasih, his wife and five children are homeless, like most of their neighbors. Their remaining belongings – a few chairs, some pots and pans, a small table – are crammed under a tarp outside their home, with a small plastic sheet in one corner for the whole family to sleep on.

"We do not have any food, because the food that we have is under the rubble," said Pak Darkasih's wife, Ibu Sawani. "We have to collect the rice from under the bricks and the roof, but we cannot use it because it is already mixed with dust and pieces of the brick."

This region has been rocked by a series of powerful tremors since Wednesday's first, and biggest, earthquake – measuring 8.4 on the Richter scale – hit the coast of Southern Sumatra, destroying houses, roads and water supplies. Fortunately, the number of people who died from the quake is low, with latest reports claiming about 10 deaths. Indonesia suffers frequent earthquakes, and people here have learned to evacuate buildings at the first sign of a tremor.

But the real challenge now is for the survivors. Throughout the earthquake zone, families like Pak Darkasih's need tarps, tents, cooking utensils, safe water, blankets and food. CARE's emergency team, which deployed immediately to Bengkulu after the earthquake, is coordinating with government officials and other aid agencies in the area to help with disaster aid.

"To prevent the outbreak of diarrhea, we need to take immediate action regarding the water supply for the community," said Adjie Fachrurrazi, CARE's emergency team leader in Bengkulu. "The people in this area have shallow wells, but the water is contaminated because the earthquake cracked the walls of the wells. They aren't boiling the water because they don't have cooking fuel, and they don't have containers to store safe water because they lost their belongings in the earthquake."

For Pak Darkasih and his family, the earthquake is even more heartbreaking because it is the month of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting and dinners with friends and family to break the fast at the end of each day.

"Yesterday was the first day of Ramadan, but we have no food," he said. "Our souls are troubled. We don't feel that there is anything to celebrate now."