LATEST NEWS + UPDATES
from ISLAND-AID in West Sumatra
by Island Aid on Tuesday, January 10
@ 10:47 AM
This map helps to understand the scale of the area we will continue to support once we secure full funding for our new mother ship.
The Blue text indicates areas we have supported with "Batavia" & "Electric Lamb" to date.
The Yellow text indicates areas where we have only worked with smaller boats including "Electric Lamb"
Red cities have airports. (Sibolga is a military airstrip)
Green cities are our preferred loading ports.
Yellow shaded areas are the areas we have either already supported or areas we know need support and are not getting any.
The only yellow area we can reach by commercial flight/ferry + vehicle is Gomo in SE Nias.
NW Aceh is serviced by a temporary road but it has deteriorated to the point where it is only passable after extended periods without rain.
There is motorcycle access to West Simeulue but no 4 wheel vehicle access due to bridge damage.
There are no roads on the Banyaks or Batus and only a few km of passable roads in the entire Mentawai chain.
The map of Europe is at the same scale...... We had not compared the extent of our operations area in this way until this morning. The comparison came as something of a shock.
The enormity of the area where ship based support is urgently needed is daunting but no other NGO is equipped to tackle the problem.
Our efforts are focused on raising funds for a new mothership because without it, there will be no hope or help for the isolated communities in the yellow shaded areas. We have continued to work with our small yacht, but frankly it is not efficient and too small to make much impact on the problem alone.
ELM have proven how effective we can be in ship-borne mode and that is our strength - our aid niche. That remains our focus.
on this article
To veiw older news and updates please visit our archives
December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 March 2007