Mega Tri Agustina
Sep 6, 2018 · 3 min read

Story Behind Lombok Earthquake: A Strong Roots of Humanity by Bukalapak Seller Community

My name is Mega Tri Agustina. As the Community Manager of Bukalapak, it’s my daily job to keep in touch with Bukalapak community (Komunitas Bukalapak) all around Indonesia, especially Central and Eastern Indonesia Region.

We all heard that there was an earthquake in Lombok on 29th July. That time, I already had thought of doing a fundraising to help the victim of the foreshock earthquake in Lombok. Unfortunately, I still had duties that I could not abandon, so I postponed the idea and prayed for the Recovery of Lombok and its people.

At the beginning of August 2018, I was going to Papua for a business trip. Then, I got news Lombok was struck with a powerful magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit the lovely island. The worst earthquake or the mainshock, happened on 5th August. Sadly, there were continuous earthquakes that worsen the situation in Lombok. Hence the coordinator of Lombok’s Komunitas Bukalapak was evacuated along with his family, as well as other community members. Although they’re safe, they asked Bukalapak to give a donation to help the victims.

It triggers me to do something for Lombok. I had a thorough discussion with a few field coordinators for Komunitas Bukalapak in Makassar. Coincidentally, they also came from NTB. Together, we then decided to start a fund-raise amongst Komunitas Bukalapak, beginning with the Komunitas around the Sulawesi region and also we collaborated with the rest of Komunitas Bukalapak spread across 100 cities in Indonesia to join the fundraising for Lombok. Donations were also gathered internally from employees of Bukalapak.

Up until August 12th, we have managed to raise about Rp75 million, and we’re still counting as the donation is still coming. The fund we’ve raised has been distributed to several evacuation points including Lombok Utara and Lombok Timur Districts, through the help of Komunitas Bukalapak Lombok. We prioritized both districts as they were the least accessible regions amongst all affected areas of the earthquake.

The donation was symbolically given on Indonesia’s Independence Day, 17th August. The distribution of the donation went smoothly to four villages in North Lombok, and two villages in East Lombok. We brought them emergency needs, clothes, groceries, soaps, milk, and even pampers and toys for the kids.

It’s sad to hear that there are more notable aftershocks continued until 19th August in Lombok. This natural disaster has caused significant damage and deaths.

Here, at Bukalapak, we can only give our best efforts to Lombok and its people, in order to recover from this hard time. We also collectively pray for the livelihoods of everyone affected by the earthquake to return to normal as soon as possible.

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