Volcano in Java; Hurricane in Haiti

Profouna-Indonesia

Plans change as events unfold. Just hours after the leader of our Disaster Assessment Response Team (DART) landed in Java from Bangkok, Mount Merapi erupted again. Another eruption last night was the strongest yet; the human death toll is now 100 and the danger zone has been upped from a 10km radius of the volcano to 20km. This means many of the emergency animal shelters are now inaccessible.The government’s priority is evacuating people, many of whom are reluctant to leave their valuable livestock behind. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has announced the government will pay to replace cattle in the hope that this will stop farmers returning to their villages, so our member society Profauna is talking to the authorities about the possibility of a mass evacuation of animals. Thousands of animals could be affected.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Tomas is about to hit Haiti and winds of 130kph are expected. Thousands of people there have been living in tents and makeshift houses since the earthquake in January and the government is urging evacuation but many have nowhere to go. We've been making Public Service Announcements (PSAs) on radio and TV for many months now, telling people how to protect their animals in a storm. This should help minimize the damage. Our mobile veterinary clinic is on standby, ready to go out into communities as soon as it is safe to do so. But cholera is spreading, and there’s a high risk of floods in the wake of the hurricane.

On a more positive note, our work treating animals after the floods in Pakistan has come to an end: we’ve vaccinated 2,741 animals against disease, and de-wormed 2,654.