Sotardodo Situmeang (53) or known as Dodo is one of the many survivors of the 6.0 magnitude earthquake in North Tapanuli Regency. Before the earthquake occurred, Dodo and his wife managed a restaurant to cover their daily needs.
The first earthquake occurred when people were fast asleep. It was pitch black because the electricity went out due to the earthquake, and heavy rain made the situation worse. “I was sleeping, there was a rumbling sound. The front part of my house collapsed, it sounded like the sound of a bomb,” said Dodo with a trembling voice. He immediately woke up and shouted calling all the children in the downstairs room to get up and get out of the house. Dodo managed to save himself by trying to get out of the broken door. Despite the loss of property, he and his family are still grateful for surviving the disaster.
“It’s really sad to describe the atmosphere at that time, we just took shelter in front of a neighbor’s house while waiting for morning to come and hoping for help to come soon.”
Although he is still sad because his house and business were damaged, forcing Dodo’s family to live outside the house, he is grateful that his family received a package of shelter kits assistance from ADRA. The package they received consisted of 2 sheets of 4 x 6 m tarpaulin, ½ kg of nails, 30 m long rope, and a hammer. He used this assistance as a temporary shelter for him and his family.
“Thank you for the package of shelter kits assistance from ADRA. This assistance is very useful to protect my family from the hot sun during the day and cold at night,” said Dodo with a smiling face showing his happiness.
Currently, Dodo is unable to continue his restaurant business because their place has been heavily damaged and is no longer suitable to run the business. “We hope that our place can be repaired as soon as possible so that we can start our business again.”
Thanks for your help, we can continue to support more families like Dodo to have a better future.
