Supporter: Angela Owen

Click to enlarge. Photo: courtesy of InterAction

InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs), has just unveiled a beta version Horn of Africa Crisis Map. You can find the map here: http://ngoquest.org/maps/1085. Each purple dot on the map represents areas where organizations like Mercy Corps are working to address the famine in the Horn of Africa.

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L to R: Randy Martin, Jill Morehead, Umer Khan, Mugur Dumitrache, Angela Owen, Susan Romanski, Richard Jacquot.

It's not often that the entire Global Emergency Operations team finds themselves in the same place at the same time. By design we are scattered across the globe, serving as a standing resource that can be quickly mobilized to augment Mercy Corps' overall ability to respond to an emergency.

Once a year we do try and take advantage of a lull in the hurricane season, or a gap between contentious elections, to meet and discuss next year's goals and lessons learned from past responses.

Until next year, we'll remain on the move.

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Houses destroyed by the tsunami are seen in the South Pagai subdistrict in Indonesia's Mentawai islands. The tsunami that pounded remote islands in western Indonesia following an earthquake off the coast of Sumatra killed more than 300 people and hundreds more were missing. Photo: REUTERS/Presidential Palace-Abror Rizki/Handout

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a magnitude 7 earthquake carries about as much as energy as 199,000 tons of TNT. That kind of energy is the reason why the small Mentawai Islands off the west coast of Sumatra were hit by a three-meter (10-foot) tsunami wave, which was spawned by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake in the Indian Ocean.

What is left is devastation as far as 600 meters (more than 1/3 of a mile) inland from the shore. The death toll is still rising — the latest estimate is at least 370 fatalities — but we do know that approximately 25,000 people, or about 5,000 households, have been affected.

Mercy Corps is working now to bring the basic necessities people need to start over again. Several team members are making their way to the remote island chain on a variety of boats, with supplies in hand to deliver to displaced and grieving families.

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Sean Collins pictured here with out local staff in Indonesia during a community distribution. Photo: Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps.

Sean Collins will be joining our team in Kyrgyzstan to serve as our Logistics and Security adviser as we respond to the needs of the refugees in the southern regions. Over the last five years he's managed programs in Indonesia after the tsunami, worked in the Sudan, provided aid during the war in Gaza and served as our logistics and security advisor in both Iraq and Haiti.

He accepted the position on Tuesday and will be flying out this Friday.

Sean brings with him vast experience designing and implementing programs for disaster relief, as well as managing country-wide logistical and security systems in challenging and volatile environments. Sean will be working with our team on the ground to coordinate distributions to people in immediate need and set up strategies for long-term recovery.

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Here's what our country director, Catherine Brown, reported today:

"Things seem to be calm in Osh and Jalalabad, but of course there is an underlying tension throughout these cities. Tonight the military in Osh will be going to certain neighborhoods in a sweep action to collect weapons and probably arrest some people they know were involved in wanton murder and property destruction....

"The airport in Osh is overwhelmed with humanitarian material and transport in Osh remains problematic....

"The food distribution in the city itself is somewhat dangerous because people are angry. The city is organizing elders (aksakals) from both the Kyrgyz and Uzbek communities to help with food aid distribution so that riots don't break out around the food distribution trucks. The city is also using these groups to determine where food aid should go in the city and surrounding areas.

"Sasha [Mercy Corps' senior official in Osh] met with Osh's vice mayor today and the mayor said that people need food (flour, oil, sugar, salt, macaroni, vegetables and detergent) and medical supplies, like insulin, antiseptic, blood pressure medicine, aspirin, bandages. Even though food is being distributed, we understand that many mahalahs (neighborhoods) that are barricaded still haven't received any food. Also, food availability in the few stores that are open is rapidly disappearing.

"Kompanion's staff in Osh also are running out of food, so Kompanion's employees are donating funds to help us buy food for them in Bishkek, but we have the challenge of getting our aid to the south."

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