The magnitude 6.2 earthquake that rocked West Sumatra on 25 February 2022 caused heavy damage to thousands of houses and buildings in the province and triggered landslides that disconnected access to affected areas as several critical roads were rendered impassable. The difficulty in delivering food aid has led to starvation, threatening the lives of thousands of residents.
The SMEC donation will benefit close to 300 families or around 1,500 individuals living in two of the worst-hit areas, the Kajai Village and Simpang Timbo Abu Village. The beneficiaries have remained in evacuation shelters months after the disaster struck due to the challenges in helping them to relocate or rebuild their homes. The residents in these villages rely mainly on agriculture to make a living and the damage caused by the earthquake and landslides has left them in urgent need of assistance.
West Pasaman is a nine-hour drive from Pekanbaru City, one of the project sites of the Metropolitan Sanitation Management Investment Project (MSMIP) where SMEC is engaged as the Project Implementation Support Consultant. This is the second time SMEC has responded to help earthquake victims in Indonesia; the first was in the wake of the Central Sulawesi earthquake in 2018.
Photo caption: Habibie Razak, Regional Manager SMEC Indonesia (second from right), is shown handing over the SMEC donation to Amirul Muttaqin and Mujiman of HSI Peduli (first and second from left, respectively) at the SMEC office in Jakarta. Also in the photo is Febrianto, SMEC CSR Representative Indonesia.
