Yogyakarta Earthquake Relief Efforts

On May 27th 2006, the city of Yogyakarta and surrounding were awaken by an earthquake of magnitude 6.3. There were close to 7000 people died and 200,000 people lost their homes.

Driving through the villages around Yogyakarta broke our hearts. Many houses were leveled to the ground. Children were playing on the street as their playground also filled with rubbles.

Thank all the people who has given us the supports with donations and prayers. We were able to help some people who still need help during our visit to Yogyakarta on June 18th - July 3rd 2006. Everyone who has received your help was very grateful and thankful. After receiving the help, many of them said, "Thank God, our prayers were heard!"



For complete pictures of our visit, please click here.



List of friends who contributed and received by Cynthia Laksawana & Joshua Utomo with total contribution of $1930:

1. Thomas Merrill, Mass Eyes and Ears Infirmary (MEEI), Boston, Massachusetts
2. Janet Delfino, Invensys Validation Technologies (IVT), Foxboro, Massachusetts
3. Seyda Dumrul, IVT, Foxboro, Massachusetts
4. Robert Smith, IVT, Foxboro, Massachusetts
5. Lynn Kremer, Holy Cross College, Worchester, Massachusetts
6. Reed & Meli Parker, Stella Duce HS (Yogyakarta, Indonesia) Alumni, Lodi, California
7. Siti Nurjanah, Wellesley, Massachusetts
8. Mithropan & Michelle Chin, Natick, Massachusetts
9. Julie Joseph, MEEI, Boston, Massachusetts
10. Charuleka Varadharajan, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts
11. Aarthi Chandrasekaran, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts
12. Quan Zhang & Yu Cheng, IVT, Foxboro, Massachusetts
13. Laxmikant Iyer, Wyeth Biotech, Andover, Massachusetts
14. Sheila A. Crowley, Wyeth Biotech, Andover, Massachusetts
15. Jenny Zhan, MEEI, Boston, Massachusetts
16. James Donohoe, Wyeth Biotech, Andover, Massachusetts
17. Binesh Prabhakar, Wyeth Biotech, Andover, Massachusetts
18. Carol Leesha, MEEI, Boston, Massachusetts
19. Payal & Nitesh Mehrotra, Cisco, Boxboro, Massachusetts
20. Vera C Pham, Stella Duce HS (Yogyakarta, Indonesia) Alumni, Issaquah, Seattle
21. Radha Kalluri & Ray Goldsworthy, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts
22. John Anderson, MEEI, Boston, Massachusetts
23. Swee Peck Quek, Somerville, Massachusetts
24. Terri & Ron Faucher and their colleges, Bausch & Lomb and Starent Network, Mass
25. Meghna Kapoor, EMC, Framingham, Massachusetts
26. Marie-Claude Dussault, IVT, Montreal - Quebec, Canada
27. Jill Beyer, MEEI, Boston, Massachusetts
28. Lisa Getchell, Wyeth Biotech, Andover, Massachusetts
29. Juergen Roth & Helen Schussler, Wyeth Biotech, Andover, Massachusetts
30. Catina Houlihan, Medford, Massachusetts
31. Patricia Houlihan, MEEI, Boston, Massachusetts
32. Julie Mergl, IVT, Montreal - Quebec, Canada
33. Srinivas Ravilisetty, Wyeth Biotech, Andover, Massachusetts
34. Rosa & Douglas Czarnomski, Rhode Island
35. Molly Sweezy, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
36. Cynthia Laksawana & Joshua Utomo, Boston, Massachusetts

List of friends who contributed and received by Florence Indriyanti:
Total contribution from San Francisco Bay Area $650.

1. Ledi Imeraj, Mountain View, California
2. Leticia Santosa, Mountain View, California
3. Arlene Hadi, Mountain View, California
4. Marc Cianciola, Alameda, California
5. Anne Stern, Mountain View, California
6. Joe Doser, Martinez, California
7. Verjin Karaoglu, Mountain View, California
8. Patty Chen & Joe Carpenter, Mountain View, California
9. Cyril Brignone, Mountain View, California
10. John Grundback & Philippe Debaty, San Francisco, California
11. Florence Indriyani & Ed Sherman, San Francisco, California
12. Aaron Beckman & Nathan Meyer, Cupertino, California
13. Yo, San Francisco, California
14. Pat & Anne Mackey, Concord, California

The amount of money received:

Cash $1,930.00 = Rp. 17,852,500 (exchange rate of Rp 9,250.00 for $1)
Travel Check $650.00 = Rp 6,002,750.00 (exchange rate of Rp 9,235.00 for $1)
Total money received $ 2,580 = Rp 23,855,250.00

The break down of the items purchased:

200 kg rice Rp 760,000.00
Instance noodles, cookies, water Rp 881,100.00
Buckets and plastic for tents Rp 351,500.00
60 blankets Rp 900,000.00
Construction/demolition tools Rp 8,681,000.00
School supplies (including school bags) Rp 2,578,000.00
Uniforms for 48 students Rp 1,329,600.00
Rental for 8 trucks (organized by Ninik Mahar) Rp 2,000,000.00 *
40 leaves mattress (tikar/kloso) Rp 520,000.00
Formula (milk) for 1 to 5 years old Rp 1,329,600.00
50 of 20-liter-water containers Rp 687,500.00
25 small foam mattress Rp 1,175,000.00
Common medicines Rp 2,753,000.00

Total spent Rp23,946,300.00

*Note: The Rp 2,000,000.00 was given to Bu Ninik Mahar who has been organizing group of people from villages in Gunung Kidul to do some voluntary works in other villages. The volunteers had to be transported by trucks. The amount of Rp2,000,000.00 (about $200) was used to rent 8 huge trucks.

Here are some of our notes ...


Sunday, June 18th 2006

We arrived in Yogyakarta around 11am. The airport in Yogyakarta has been repaired. The main building has been demolished. Most of the cracks on the wall has been covered and painted. My whole family (My mother, brother and his wife, my two nephews, even my 4 months old niece - except my father) picked us up at the airport. It was great to finally reached home after a long plane ride from Boston - San Francisco (stayed over night and met Florence Indriayani) - Seoul(Korea) - Singapore - Jakarta - Yogyakarta.

Monday, June 19th 2006

Today we just rested and visited the family in Yogyakarta. We started making some phone calls and made some plans to visit some camps around Yogyakarta. We exchanged the money from US$ to Rupiah.

Tuesday, June 20th 2006

Joshua was booked to give free 2-Days Seminar in Heal Grow Therapy.
This seminar plan started when we were still in Boston. Bu Ninik Mahar who was in Montreal, Canada with her husband when the earthquake happened had to cut her stay short to return to Yogyakarta. Bu Ninik and Pak Mahar both are actively involved in the relief efforts in Yogyakarta. We asked Bu Ninik if we could be any help in healing process especially Joshua. Joshua wished to give some kind of mass-healing to the victims. Bu Ninik had the answer to the wish by arranging time, place, and people who might be able to take the benefit from the Seminar of Healing. Thank to Bu Ninik who has made this wish to be reality.

Today would be the 1st half of the series and was held in Klaten Central Java (about 1.5 hour drive from Yogyakarta). The 2nd one was going to be held in Yogyakarta on Saturday. There were about 30 attendees varied from volunteers, survivors, psychologists, doctors, and counselors from Yogyakarta and Klaten. The seminar was held from 10am to 6pm. Delicious BBQ chicken Klaten style lunch was provided by the generosity of Bu Ninik Mahar.

There were many of volunteers who were stressed out. One of the volunteer was telling us how he has been in so much distressed. On May 27th when the earth quake stroked, he was helping the victims. In the middle of the chaos, one of the victim died on his lap. He wanted to cry but he couldn't and he wanted to scream for help because he didn't know how to help the survivors.

For more information about Heal Grow Therapy please visit Joshua at www.healandgrowcenter.com

Wednesday, June 21st 2006

We visited one of the hardest hit area Imogiri, Bantul (about 30 minutes from the city). The contact person was Mas Wahyudi, our own driver. We distributed 200 kg rice, instance noodle, water, cookies, and buckets for about 40 families. The original plan was the food supplies were going to be distributed among 26 families however there were there were several people from neighboring village came over this the supplies had to be further equally divided.

Almost 100% houses were destroyed in this area and there were 25 people died. There have been several strong after shocks daily in this area. Strange loud noises came from underneath the earth which still could be heard every night. The water in the well dropped couple of meters after the quake.


Thursday, June 22nd 2006

We went to the area Gunung Kidul (approximately 2 hours drive from the city) with one of volunteer named Mas Wito as our guide. Wito has been surveying the area in Gunung Kidul thus he knows exactly which area still needed help and the kind of help they needed. We visited 4 villages: Paliyan, Banyusuco, Menggoro, and Ngrembes.

In Paliyan, the school supplies were dropped for Bopkri Junior High School. This school has policy of free everything including tuition, uniforms, and school supplies because they wanted to provide good education to the students and most of them were from very poor family. The school was still standing however it was not saved to be used. The classes were held outside on the school yard or inside the tent for the remaining school semester. The heat was sometime unbearable outside but they still had to finish the final exams.

The trip to Banyusuco was a scenic one although it was not an easy road. Most of the houses in Banyusuco were located on the mountain sides. There were lots of stones rolling to the houses since the earthquake and most of people were not recommended to return to their home. Plastic tents and blankets were still needed by the people in Banyusuco.

The trip was continued to Menggoro. There were two camps to be visited. One camp needed blankets and construction/demolition tools and the other camp needed construction/demolition tools and school supplies for the children.

The last stopped was at Ngrembes. There was a huge stone the size of 3 elephants almost covered the road to Ngrembes. The road could only be passed by one car. Truck wouldn't be able to pass by this road for sure. Construction/demolition tools were needed here to be used to clean up the debris and to start reconstructions.

Friday, June23rd 2006

Joshua was invited by Bu Esti Maratani the Head of Counseling Department (P3) at the Duta Wacana University in Yogyakarta to give a half day seminar. Today Joshua gave seminar in Joyful Smile-Hearty Laughter Formula. It was held in their Media Center in a casual atmosphere. There were about 20 people attended the Seminar ranging from Counselors, Professor of Duta Wacana, Junior High School Teacher, Volunteers, Survivors, and College students.

Saturday, June 24th 2006

It was supposed to be continuation of the 1st half of the Heal Grow Therapy seminar, however since the attendees were different from the ones in Klaten, the seminar was begun from the beginning. This time, the seminar was held in Body Care Center Impression in Yogyakarta. There were about 100 attendees ranging from Volunteers, Survivors, Psychologists, CAM Therapists, Doctors, Managers of Banks, College students, wife of Vice-Mayor of city of Bantul, the wife of Mayor of Yogyakarta, and a representative of Her Majesty Queen Hemas of the Royal Court of Yogyakarta Kingdom, etc.

The seminar was from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. Joshua also gave the chance to people who would like to be healed after the seminar. Again, there were still many people who experienced trauma of the earthquake. During the seminar, Josh clapped his hand and made a loud noise and people jumped from their seats and said that they thought it was earthquake.


Sunday, June 25th 2006

A day off for us - we spent the day with family and Joshua left to visit his family in Krian, East Java.


Monday, June 26th 2006

Today we went to Turunan village in Gunung Kidul to deliver some construction/demolition tools.

We first went to Wonosari, the capital city of Gunung Kidul, to see Pak Heru. Pak Heru contacted me thru a fellow high school alumni Retno Sarosa. Pak Heru needed construction tools including four different kind of nails, plastic tents, and formula/milk for toddlers. Seeing the amount of nails and tools, he suggested to divide them so they could be distributed to four different camps. Together with his wife and daughter, we also divided the 30 kg nails each kind into 5 kg packages.

Due to the locations and limited time, we entrusted Pak Heru to deliver the formula/milk and plastic tents to Sewon village in Bantul. The rest of the tools and nails were going to be delivered to other camps.

From Turunan village, we stopped by at Paliyan once more to deliver the uniforms and school bags. They had informed us the quantity of the uniforms and sizes before hence. They were so happy to received the help because they had been praying to find a way to get uniforms for the students for the new semester.


Tuesday, June 27th 2006

We went to one of most remote village, Girin Village, in Gunung Kidul which was on the border with Klaten and it was easier to reach there thru Klaten. The village was so remote and they have not gotten any help since the earthquake hit them. Only about a week ago (3 weeks after the quake) this village was discovered.

The village was located on the mountain. Water was very sacred in this village. There was only one well in the middle of the rice field. The people had to go thru steep hill to get to the well. The containers they needed to carry the water were mostly destroyed during the quake. They were very happy when we delivered 50 of 20 liter water containers, buckets, and some mattresses made out of leaves (traditional mattresses called kloso in Javanese or tikar in Indonesian).

Wednesday, June 28th 2006

Joshua just returned from Krian. We didn't go to any camps today.


Thursday, June 29th 2006

Bu Esti Maratani had requested Joshua again to return to Duta Wacana University. She invited most of the people who had attended couple of Joshua's seminar the previous week. This seminar was intended to be more free form and used as Q&A session to some of questions they still had in mind and deepened their understanding of Joyful Smile and Hearty Laughter Formula as well as Heal Grow Therapy.

In the afternoon, we also went to Bambanglipuro village in Bantul, Yogyakarta. Our contact person was Pak Alex which we got from another fellow Stella Duce HS alumni, Upik. We delivered construction/demolition tools and nails to them at their camp. This area was one of the hardest hit by the earthquake. Almost 100% of the houses were destroyed. The leader of the camp was telling us that almost every night there were thieves who entered their village thus the sound of kenthongan (a noise maker made of bamboo) echoed everywhere in the middle of the night. The sound of kenthongan was also heard during the earthquake thus these sounds reminded them to the earthquake.



Friday, June 30th 2006

We returned one more time to the village of our driver Mas Wahyudi. This time we delivered some school supplies for the children of his village. There were about 30 children who needed the supplies. Each child received about 10 books, 2 pencils, 2 pens, 1 ruler, 1 eraser, 1 pencil sharpener, 1 box of color pencil, 2 drawing books. We hoped that the children would also find their spirits back to start the new class.

Saturday, July 1st 2006

Due to limited time, we couldn't visit to any camps anymore. We still had 25 small foam mattresses at home and many boxes of medicines. These were requested by Godeliva Sari, Stella Duce HS alumni, who also a volunteer at one of the camp in Klaten area (please see their blog at http://kerabat-yogya.blogspot.com/). She had to send his father to pick these items up from our home since she was away that day to buy bamboo walls. Thank to Sari's father.

Our driver also dropped whole bunch of construction/demolition tools and nails to Bu Ninik's home. These tools and nails would be very useful to be used by volunteers coordinated by Bu Ninik.

Joshua managed the arrangement of the pick up and delivery for today. My very best friend Lalan came from Jakarta to see me and I spent most of the day with her.


Sunday, July 2nd 2006

The last day being in Yogyakarta. We had to leave for Jakarta the next day at 6:20am flight. We spent the last day with family.


Monday, July 3rd 2006

6:20am we left Yogyakarta. We hope when we see you again, you will be stronger and more beautiful. We hope that this relief efforts will not end here.

Special thanks to:

All our friends in Boston area, San Francisco Bay Area - friends of Florence (Thank to Florence Indriyani who had held BBQ under the Golden Gate Bridge in a cold day for the fund raising), and Stella Duce High School alumni in USA who had given us the trust and support in term of donations and prayers to deliver the help directly to the survivors in Yogyakarta.

Bu Ninik Mahar and family who had helped us to reach the people in Yogyakarta and surrounding for healing efforts and thank you for your friendships.

Bu Esti Maratani for her kind attention and love for us and had gathered people in Duta Wacana University for the seminars. Thank you for connecting us to some people who needed our help.

Impressions Body Care Center crews especially to Bu Hj. Koentiatri, Bu Hidana, and Bu Ririt Yuniarti who had welcomed us to use the facility at Impressions Yogyakarta, organized and publicized the Heal and Grow Therapy Seminar.

Bu Lanny Anggawati (Djie Siang Lang) who had opened her arms to receive us thru Bu Ninik Mahar and let us use the meeting room at the Wisma Sambodhi in Klaten, Central Java.

Stella Duce High School Alumni for your guide in finding contacts so we delivered the help to some camps in Yogyakarta and surrounding.

Mas Amron Paul Yuwono who had helped Florence Indriyani in San Francisco Bay Area with your Gecko Gecko gift certificate.

Mas Wahyudi who had driven us around Yogyakarta so safely. Without him, we could never reach any of the camps which were located so remotely.

And at last but not the least, our family who had shared their time with what we needed to do in Yogyakarta, for their support and understanding, for their help in inquiring some of the items we needed, for lending their cars and handphone, and for their unconditional love.