Indonesia (MNN) — When Mount Merapi erupted on October 26, thousands of families, homes and livestock were affected. Over a month later, Merapi's victims are slowly able to return home.
Indonesia's volcano displaced hundreds of people, many of whom took refuge at nearby Wesleyan Bible College where World Hope International has a base of operations. Since October, 800 displaced people have found shelter within the campus walls, occupying the auditorium, classrooms, offices, and any other available space.
The government has finally deemed it safe for some of Merapi's victims to vacate their temporary shelters and return home. People who live further than 10 kilometers from the top of Merapi are now able to return home to clean up, restore and rebuild their homes. Some have already begun the process.
World Hope has distributed aid to dozens of families, providing food, hygiene kits and school supplies to help sustain victims and restore normalcy to students. Relief packets were given to people living between the 10 km and 14 km radius of Merapi.
The next phase in the process will be reintegrating those who live less than 10 km from the crater, which should begin any day now. This is likely to take more work since more damage has undoubtedly been done to these victims' homes, livestock, and crops.
The volcano is still active, and the alert status remains in force.
Pray for the safety of those returning home, and for Merapi to stay at bay.
In the midst of this devastation, World Hope has been able to reach many people with the hope of the Gospel. Pray that their follow-up would be fruitful after victims are restored to their homes. If you would like to help as World Hope continues to bring aid to Merapi's victims, click here.
