West Sumatra and Jambi Natural Disasters: Damage, Loss and Preliminary Needs Assessment

The two consecutive earthquakes that hit the provinces of West Sumatra and Jambi on 30 September and 1 October caused widespread damage across the provinces killing over 1,100 people, destroying livelihoods and disrupting economic activity and social conditions. Resulting landslides left scores of houses and villages buried, whilst disrupting power and communication for days. The first of these events was felt throughout Sumatra and Java, in Indonesia, and in neighboring Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

This report describes the human loss, assessment of the damage to physical assets, the subsequent losses sustained across all economic activities, and the impact of the disaster on the provincial and national economies. It also provides the baseline data against which recovery and reconstruction plans can be designed, and progress can be monitored. The comprehensive assessment was undertaken from 9 to 17 October 2009 using the international standard methodology for measuring disasters, which has been adopted for several years now within Indonesia. Estimates were based on information collected by the assessment team during field surveys and on valuable information collected and provided by the provincial and district governments.