Indonesian staff along with local inhabitants fearful

Mississauga, ON  - World Vision staff in Nias are safe but traumatized after World Vision's multi-storey building collapsed following a quake that registered 8.7. Accurate numbers of those who died are not yet clear but local staff estimate between 300 and 2,000 people died. World Vision is dispatching additional staff to respond to the largest aftershock since the December 26 tsunami.

"We knew this was a big one-everything was moving around us and under us," says Patricio Cuevas, World Vision aid worker based in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. "The earthquake took out the electricity, so it is was very dark and people were obviously quite scared. There were many people walking around, some screaming and very panicked. Communications have been extremely difficult."

World Vision is now shipping relief supplies, such as blankets and water, to the nearest accessible port in Nias. Relief programming for Nias and the surrounding region, already in place following the December 26 tsunami, will be expanded to include a response for the March 28 quake.

"World Vision is already operational in and around Nias," says Emmanuel Isch, director of emergency response at World Vision Canada. "Current programs include a three-year rebuilding project. The aim of the effort is to provide economic support for poor families through providing access to education for thousands of children. We are also assisting families who lost their homes just two weeks ago due to a typhoon on the island."

World Vision is operational in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand, responding to the devastating December 26 tsunami. In the first three months, the organization assisted more than one million people across the affected countries.