08.12.2023

HKBP Church Provides Emergency Aid in Indonesia

In the emergency shelters, people affected by the floods discuss their needs with personell, both short term and medium term. Photos by: HKBP

Landslides can bury entire houses, such as here, where masses of water carried enormous rocks with them.

Ephorus Dr. Robinson Butarbutar, church leader of the HKBP, makes himself familiar with the situation. He talks and prays with people who were evacuated or lost family members, and he coordinates the emergency work of the church.

Four natural disasters struck the Indonesian UEM member church HKBP* within three weeks. The landslides and floods occurred around Lake Toba on Sumatra:

On 13 November, the village of Sihotang on the island of Samosir in the middle of Lake Toba was flooded. On 14 November, the Bakkara region was hit by flooding in the early morning. On 21 November, the village of Hau Agong in the Humbang Hasundutan district was hit by a landslide, killing two people and injuring six others. The flash flood on the evening of 1 December had an even greater impact: it flooded the village of Simangulampe in the same district and also triggered landslides. 11 people are still missing and one person has died. The Indonesian disaster management agency BNPB* is working at the scene of the disaster and coordinating with civil society organisations in the region, including HKBP.

HKBP with emergency aid on site

The disasters have hit the members of the HKBP communities and the region as a whole hard. The people in the affected villages live primarily from their own agricultural yields. However, the masses of water and landslides of recent weeks have destroyed agriculture and led to crop failures. In view of this humanitarian and economic emergency, the HKBP is providing immediate emergency aid, including logistical assistance, economic support and trauma counselling.

The HKBP is asking the UEM Communion for further support in the form of intercessory prayers and donations in order to be able to help all affected people quickly and effectively, regardless of their religious affiliation. To this end, the EKiR*, the EKvW* and the UEM have jointly pledged 15,000 euros.

Please support the work of the United Evangelical Mission to provide reliable and powerful networks to its member churches in disasters like this. In 2021, people in Indonesia donated for those affected in the Ahr valley in Germany, now we are asking you in Africa, Asia and Europe for donations for those affected in Sumatra.

Your donation helps!

Donate here

*HKBP = Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (Christian-Protestant Church of the Batak)

*BNPB = Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (National Board for mitigation of disaster)

*EKiR = Evangelische Kirche im Rheinland (Evangelical Church in the Rhineland)

*EKvW = Evangelische Kirche von Westfalen (Evangelical Church in Westphalia)