Greyshirt stories: Notes from Operation Palu
Maria Larsen was a Royal Engineer officer for nine years before joining Team Rubicon as a volunteer this summer.
Within weeks of joining, Maria had completed training and was out on operations in Haiti and Indonesia.
Maria is currently in Indonesia, working hard to provide clean water to thousands of earthquake survivors on the island of Sulawesi. In this dispatch, she explains some of the challenges –and successes– of ‘Operation Palu’ so far.
Like most people, I was horrified by the news of the earthquake and tsunami that hit the island of Sulawesi on the 28 September.
The images of utter devastation and the rapidly rising number of deaths, injuries and displacement were just inconceivable to me.
I was returning from a deployment with Team Rubicon in Haiti when the initial news broke so, I knew that the disaster response capability of our charity could have a great effect in helping those living through the disaster.
Without hesitation, I volunteered to support however I could, based on my water purification experience in the Royal Engineers.
I was soon back on a plane heading out to join our reconnaissance team.
Four weeks have now passed and our in-country team has battled to get the correct governmental permissions and our colleagues in the UK have worked tirelessly to get vital life-saving equipment out to Indonesia.
We’re now in a brief lull as this equipment arrives by air freight. It’s important what we get this kit to support local NGO Aksi Cepat Tanggap so that survivors can get access to clean water for the first time since the earthquake struck back in September.
But we shouldn’t forget the significant mountains we have moved to get here: Team Rubicon is one of only a small number of international organisations with permission to operate in Indonesia and we have established strong relationships with key government departments and local humanitarian charities.
Video footage captured by our drone assessment teams was used to brief the United Nations secretary general.
Thanks to a partnership with Lifestraw and Amazon.com, Team Rubicon has been able to send 15 portable kits to help a group of survivors near the stricken city of Palu.
By next week, our main water purification equipment should be out in Lompio with ACT, providing a much needed clean water source to around 12,000 survivors still in desperate need.
