Bandung, 8 September 2009 - As our form of care for the earthquake’s victims, Bank CIMB Niaga Syariah and Rumah Zakat together provided food aid to the victims of Tasikmalaya Earthquake which was located in Kecamatan Kertasari, Kabupaten Bandung. We chose this place as it is one of the worst damaged area caused by the earthquake. Our journey to the location was quite difficult since the road access to get there was badly damaged and dusty. It took about 2.5 hours to go from Bandung City to Kecamatan Kertasari.

Kecamatan Kertasari consists of Village Sukapura, Cibeureum, Tarumajaya, Santosa, Neglawangi, Cikembang and Cihawuk. Cibeureum was the most damaged village of all in Kecamatan Kertasari with the biggest number of damage records as follows: 667 badly damaged house, 1.271 lightly damaged house, 2 dead victims, 65 seriously wounded, 102 less seriously wounded, and 178 lightly wounded. 28 praying facilities (mosques) needed renovating, with a few of them should be totally rebuilt.
 
In this aid provision, Bank CIMB Niaga Syariah provided food package, special package for women, as well as nutrition package for children and babies (under five years old). We channeled this aid for the victims together with the assistance of volunteers from Rumah Zakat and Alamy Indonesia and it was centralized in Rumah Zakat Earthquake’s Posts.
 
During the event of aid delivery, our team of CIMB Niaga Syariah, Corporate Affairs CIMB Niaga, Rumah Zakat, and volunteers from Alamy Indonesia were present together. Mr. Rudi Amir, Syariah Affairs Division Head, directly gave such aid to the earthquake’s victims in Kecamatan Kertasari. In his opening speech, Mr. Rudi Amir expressed his deep empathy for all the earthquake’s victims. As a form of our care, Bank CIMB Niaga and CIMB Niaga Syariah provided food aid and nutrition for the elderly, women and children so as to alleviate their sorrow.

Currently, the condition of the earthquake’s victims is still very awful since they are still occupying the posts and tents built by both the government and NGOs. They are in traumatic state with the disaster and the magnitude of damaged buildings and houses so that can’t be reoccupied any longer. The difficult access heading to the earthquake’s location was also one of deterrent factors for the volunteers in doing channeling of such aid to the victims.

With this earthquake, we together hope there is something important to learn. We also wish that with a plenty of aid from both government and private side, the process of recovery can be done faster so that the victims can feel happy with their quality of life again.