MSF teams responded to the influx of patients as injured people were brought to the health centres in Pandeglang district on the morning of 23 December.
Our teams were already working in this region before it was severely hit by a tsunami following the eruption of Anak Karakatoa volcano on the late evening of 22 December 2018.
On 24 December, the Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency had reported more than 281 deaths, 1,061 injured and 11,690 displaced. While the affected areas are slowly showing signs of recovery, with the reopening of restaurants and shops, the streets remain blocked, making it difficult to access the health post and health centers.
With support from the MSF country coordination team which arrived a few hours later, MSF liaised with the health centre teams, prioritising immediate needs.
The most severe patients are being referred to bigger hospitals in the area and the deceased are being managed by local authorities.
Our teams are supporting the exhausted health workers in health centres by ensuring proper case management, infection control and hygiene standards, as well as material support. During the course of the day, more injured people and dead bodies arrived which needed immediate attention and we expect this to continue over the next few days.
MSF has mobilised three teams: one team is currently supporting the Carita Health Center, which is now clean and running; and the second team is supporting the Labuan Health Center. In both centres, MSF is augmenting the health personnel attending to the injured. The third team is mobile, visiting the various communities to treat injured patients who could not go to the hospitals or health centres. Case management being done by the MSF teams is ongoing, with severe cases being referred to hospitals.
Since early 2018, MSF has an adolescent health project in Indonesia supporting the Ministry of Health in Labuan and Carita in Pandeglang district. Due to our permanent presence in Pandeglang district, we will continue to support the national response efforts as long as needed.
