from the South Mississippi Sun Herald

Posted on Fri, Mar. 24, 2006
Tsunami survivors coming
Nine Indonesians to share expertise

By KAT BERGERON
SUN HERALD

D'IBERVILLE - Nine Indonesian survivors and recovery experts from the December 2004 Asian tsunami are coming to South Mississippi, particularly D'Iberville and Pearlington.

Considered one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern history, the tsunami claimed an estimated 230,000 lives and wrecked many waterfront communities.

The Indonesians are coming to help with Hurricane Katrina recovery, to share their knowledge and to learn more for when they return to a region still piecing together tsunami-struck communities.

Dr. Sari Mutia Timu, a general practitioner who was one of the first doctors in Banda Aceh after the tsunami, will be among them. So will survivor Muhammad Nazif, an Acehnese man who now oversees the credit union and small farming in his village.

"These nine from Indonesia will have a better level of what's happened here than volunteers who come from New England or elsewhere in the U.S. who haven't experienced the same level of magnitude, even though they may not speak the same language or have the same cultural background," said Kathryn Renton, manager of the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Volunteer Village in D'Iberville.

The nine Indonesians will stay at the Volunteer Village, helping out at worksites and talking with hurricane survivors as well as recovery agencies and volunteers. They will also visit Pearlington, a hard-hit community in Pearl River County, as part of their 2½-week working tour of U.S. sites served by PDA.

Volunteer Village, open since September, houses and organizes more than 90 volunteers each week as a part of PDA, headquartered in Louisville, Ky. It is one of six PDA villages in Mississippi to help with Katrina recovery and works closely with a D'Iberville citizens' group formed to help coordinate that city's recovery.

"The nine Indonesians are active in their regional disaster-response organizations and have incredible survivor stories," Renton said. "It is everyone's first trip to the U.S., and will be a rich cultural exchange in every way, based on mutual experiences of loss and devastation by natural catastrophe."

On Thursday they left Indonesia on the mission trip organized by Presbyterian Church-USA, and will arrive in D'Iberville on Sunday from Mobile. Their schedule includes an outdoor dinner Thursday with Katrina survivors at a Biloxi park in a demolished neighborhood.

The Indonesians will remain at the volunteer village on Lamey Bridge Road through March 30.

About the village
What and Where: Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Volunteer Village, called Camp New Hope, is located at 11322 Lamey Bridge Road, D'Iberville.

Indonesian visit: Nine survivors/recovery experts will visit to learn and share their own expertise from the Asian tsunami. They will be assigned to recovery worksites and are scheduled to meet with Katrina survivors and recovery experts.

Details: 228-224-0609