General Situation

After the hostage crises in 1996 the island of Irian Jaya (West Papua), the western half of the island of Papua New Guinea, has once again been a focus of attention and alarm.

The province of Irian Jaya (West Papua) is suffering the effects of a prolonged drought of an amplitude never experienced before. Though the annual dry season usually extends from May to October with at least a little rain every day, most areas in the region have not seen any rain of any significance at all since the last rainy season.

This serious condition has produced acute nutritional and agricultural consequences for most of the population in this region. They are desperately in need of food and are unable to hunt, which in "normal" times provide a vital source of protein, because of the absence of forest animals and limited access. This situation has caused famine, which has reached the final stages in many villages, with children and the elderly the main victims.

Most of the people of the mountains of Irian Jaya (West Papua) are subsistence farmers, relying on a type of sweet potato for 90 % of their energy intake. The sweet potato is also essential because it allows the partial feeding of pigs, which are traditionally the only source of social, political and economical power. The sweet potato has a very high yield (10 to 20 tones per hectare) and it can be cultivated up to an altitude of 2,000 meters, allowing the population to settle out of the range of malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

Since the rains are usually present throughout the year, the Irianese people have never developed any coping mechanism to confront drought, and are therefore very dependent upon sweet potatoes, but everything which was planted since May 1997 has failed. Potatoes, harvested prior to May 1997, are exhausted, or predicted to be so by the end of January 1998.

With the normal expectation of harvesting the sweet potatoes some six-to-nine-months after planting, depending on altitude, this crises can be expected to continue until the next predicted successful harvest, from June 1998 onwards. Naturally, cultivation and planting requires that the population has sufficient energy, health and access to fields and seeds. Those hardest hit by malnutrition and malaria are the people who fled the conflict areas last year for the lower-lying forests and valleys. In two of the villages, 20 % of the population has died since October. Malnutrition has greatly contributed to reduced resistance to the region's endemic diseases such as malaria, dysentery and upper respiratory infections.

The critical situation has encouraged the ICRC, in cooperation with its counterpart Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), to conduct surveys and start relief operations in the most affected regions : Timika, the southern part of the central mountains (Mimika regency), and Wamena, the southern part of the Baliem valley (Jayawijaya regency) at the end of September 1997.

Access to those regions is extremely difficult due to their isolation, often at high altitudes in thick jungle, as well as the total absence of roads and other infrastructure. Moreover, safety becomes very vulnerable since these regions have recently been troubled by clashes between Indonesian security forces and members of Free Papua Movement (OPM), which seeks independence of Irian Jaya (West Papua).

Given the gravity of the situation as well as the specific character of the affected regions, the ICRC in Jakarta submitted a proposal for joint action by the PMI and ICRC to the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 27 October 1997. The Indonesian authorities formally accepted this proposal on 13 November 1997.

The initial mission of PMI-ICRC to Irian Jaya (West Papua) arrived on 19 November 1997. It comprised of three ICRC delegates (including a nutritionist and a medical doctor), and three members of PMI (including a medical doctor). As mentioned, the mission concentrates on two most affected regions : Timika, the southern part of the central mountains (Mimika regency), and Wamena, the southern part of Baliem Valley (Jayawijaya regency). The mission will also include the border area with PNG, which is the next potential area of interest for the PMI-ICRC program.

Action (PMI-ICRC activities)

1. Introduction

A PMI-ICRC office base has been established in the town of Timika, a town which offers accessibility to the area affected by the drought and the possibility of necessary maintenance for logistical matters.

As Irian Jaya (West Papua)'s mountainous terrain is prone to very sudden changes in the weather, Timika is also best situated to allow more regular flying conditions. Timika's position also allows access to the south-eastern part of Jayawijaya regency, which borders on Papua New Guinea, another area affected by the drought. The office will help co-ordinate the PMI-ICRC activities with the various military and civilian authorities in the region. As far as the transportation is concerned, the PMI-ICRC has hired two helicopters, Bell 206 and Bell 212. With these, the PMI-ICRC is able to cover more affected areas and distribute to more population.

The area affected by drought and which the PMI-ICRC team has targeted for its program of assistance is still under strict security surveillance by the Indonesia army. In fact, the army is the only governmental structure in the area. A loose presence of OPM still exists and makes the role of an independent organization necessary. This also includes the border area with PNG, which will be the next potential area of interest for the PMI-ICRC program. This latter region could also involve the ICRC Regional Delegation in a potential return of a part of the 3,500 refugees in PNG, this for as soon as the first trimester of 1998.

The PMI-ICRC team has been assessing the situation concerning health considerations, access to water, access to food and the means of cultivation. While carrying out surveys, the team, in close coordination with local health workers (mantri), the authorities and other organizations, has started relief activities in the most affected villages. These consist of bringing food (rice and noodles), cooking pots, medicines and medical services, and plastic water containers.

2. Assessment in the Field

2.1 Medical

The PMI-ICRC team has so far covered 19 villages involving about 18,000 population in the southern part of the central mountians (Mimika regency) and Wamena, the southern part of the Baliem valley (Jayawijaya regency).

The team reported that the health and nutritional situation of people in most of the villages has been found dramatic and immediate action is required. The main causes of death are malaria and upper respiratory tract infections, precipitated by the severe malnutrition. Blood smears performed on residents in the visited areas indicate a malaria-positive prevalence of between 90 - 100 %. It is important to note that malaria is now being found at higher than usual altitudes, and that no explanation for this phenomenon has been found. According to the ICRC medical doctor, the rampant malaria may be spread by the long drought largely blamed on the El-Nino effect.

On top of these health problems, scabies and other skin infections are increasing, while worm infestation is generalized. Since it is quite cold at night at altitudes above 1000 meters, these people, who live almost completely naked, need more energy to stand "cold stress", a severe aggravating factor to the lack of food.

Severely malnourished were found more in infants at the weaning age (after 4-6 months), lactating mothers, pregnant women and people after 45 years of age. Almost all children of all-age groups suffer from ascites (big bellies) probably worsen by worms infections caused by poor personal hygiene and unclean drinking water, etc. Sanitation is very low and personal hygiene is very poor. On average they take a bath once a month in nearby river, which is also the people's source of drinking water (unboiled) and for cooking. Protein and energy malnutrition (PEM) is invariably accompanied by anemia and other deficiencies as well, such as Vitamin A deficiency in all age groups.

Food supplement program is a necessity to improve their health and nutritional status for these age groups and to help prevent a worse condition for the moderately and better nourished groups.

2.2 Relief

Relief assistance distributed comprises of rice, green peas, cooking oil, salt (without MSG), BP-5 compact food (1 bar/ps/day = 500 gram = 2260 Kcal). The team also distributed plastic water container to people to fetch water, and cooking pots. As of 31 January, the relief operation has distributed 19,711 kilograms of BP5, 32,725 kgs of rice, 5,020 kgs of mung beans, 5,020 liters of cooking oil and 3,828 kgs of salt.

Since protein and energy malnutrition (PEM) is invariably accompanied by anemia and other deficiencies as well, such as Vitamin A deficiency in all age groups, the team distributed iron tablets and high dose of Vitamin A capsules.

The health team performed medical examination and distributed medicines, and sometimes it has to evacuate people (medevacs) in critical condition to hospitals in order to get thorough treatment.

2.3 Rehabilitation

The on-going PMI-ICRC relief operations in drought-hit Irian Jaya (West Papua) will be followed by the efforts to help the local people reach self-sufficiency in food.

Along with regular food supplies to villages suffering from food-shortage, the ICRC-PMI team would also focus on the cultivation of vegetables and sweet potatoes, the staple food of Irianese. The program will run until the local people can get their own harvest.

Surveys made by Mr. Rumawas from the Bogor Insitute of Agriculture who is also a member of the ICRC-PMI team showed that agricultural program should be adapted to some villages and areas in need such as Alama, Nggin, Wurem, Kwid, Nggeselema and Bela. Seeds of sweet potatoes, carrots, cabbage and beans, peanuts, sweetcorns, ordered in the Agency of Technology Study and Application (BPPT) in Wamena, have been distributed. Kinds of seeds distributed from one place to another were different, it depends on the fertility of soil, status of field and number of inhabitants. Some planting materials were also distributed to the farmers. For example in Ngesselema (270 people), on 11/2/98, the team distributed five spades and five axes and 43 kilograms of corn seeds.

During the distribution of the seeds, the agronomist will give directions on how they should plant the seeds. Anyhow, in most of cases, according to Mr. Rumawas, the population did not follow the instruction and planted the seeds as they normally did for hundreds of years. He said that it is not a major problem as long as they can harvest the crops.

Along with the medical services, the health team also gives information (nutrition and health education) about important messages for the vulnerable and high risk groups through the women and mothers i.e give more foods to young children, pregnant women and lactating mothers, and improve personal hygiene.

3. Personnel :

1. Mr. Iyang Sukandar           PMI - ICRC Coordinator
2. Dr. Bimo                     PMI Doctor
3. Mr. Rukman                   PMI Nurse
4. Mr. Olivier Humbert-Droz     ICRC delegate dealing with logistic, reporting
5. Mr. Salam                       staff dealing with logistic
6. Mr. Fred Rumawas             PMI Agronomist (from Bogor Institute of Agriculture)
7. Ms. Sance Wonatorey          PMI Liaison Officer in Jayapura
8. Mr. Husnil                   ICRC Administration Staff
9. Mrs. Sientje Masoara         PMI Nutritionist (from Health Ministry)
10. Ms. Barbara Ford            ICRC Medical Doctor (Australian Red Cross)
11. Gareth Barrett              ICRC Nurse (British Red Cross)

End 13/2/98