Bumi Sehat has been an early responder after several very large natural disasters in Indonesia and also in Haiti; the earthquake/tsunami in Aceh in 2004, the earthquake in Yogyakarta in May 2006, the earthquake in Padang in September 2009 and the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010. Our focus as an NGO has been to support maternal and child health survival and effective disaster relief.

 Yogyakarta

A short term emergency effort was coordinated by Bumi sehat and local Indonesian not for profit organizations in response to the 2006 earthquake, and subsequent eruption of the Merapi volcano on the island of Java. Bumi Sehat provided immediate emergency relief, medical supplies and survival essentials to the area where over 6,000 people lost their lives.

Padang

On September 30th, 2009 a terrible earthquake magnitude 7.9 struck Padang Indonesia. A team from Bumi Sehat immediately set off from our clinic in Aceh to assist with the medical team on the ground and to procure much neeeded medical supplies and disaster survival kits. The Bumi Sehat medical team worked hand in hand with medics in a half destroyed hospital maternity ward helping women deliver healthy babies. The Bumi Sehat team met with other medical relief teams and advised them in encouraging and supporting breastfeeding as the distribution of infant formula in disaster zones, with no source of potable water, is fatal to babies.

Haiti

On January 24, 2010, 12 days after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Bumi Sehat Foundation International (BSFI) sent a medical team into Haiti at the request of the civic leaders of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. They requested our aid and assistance as an internationally recognized maternal/child health emergency relief organization with prior field experience. By March 2010 the BSFI team and citizens of Jacmel had erected a forty-foot dome clinic and were providing quality maternal/infant health services. At this time the decision was made to transition the clinic from disaster relief to a permanent birth center. At the end of June 2010 the BSFI Haiti clinic was handed over to a legally separate organization, Mother Health International (MHI).

Aceh

Bumi Sehat responded to the December 2004 Asian Tsunami by sending an emergency response health team to Aceh in February 2005. This team delivered medical supplies and provided much needed health services for a population that was devasted by immense loss. Once in Aceh, Bumi Sehat decided to establish a permanent clinic. This clinic is located in the village of Cot near the city of Meulaboh, Aceh, close to the epicenter of the earthquake that caused the tsunami.