Earthquake Destroys NTT Family’s Home, Forcing Them to Live in a Pigpen

A family of five in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province is living in a former pigpen after an earthquake reduced their home to rubble.

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This used to be a pigpen, but now we use it as a home. Our house was badly damaged, and there is nowhere else for us to go.

Seriani Wati Mengo, her husband Siprianus Baeng and their three children briefly stayed at an evacuation post. They returned to their property after finding the shelter dusty, exposed to rain and unsuitable for living. The family repaired the pigpen as best they could and now uses it as their only refuge.

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We had stayed at the evacuation post, but it was not suitable either. We were afraid of the rain, and there was a lot of dust. In the end, we repaired the pigpen and chose to live here.

Seriani and her husband work as farmers and weavers, but the earthquake has prevented them from working normally. The family’s government rice assistance has fallen to three kilograms. They also need food, medicine and clean water, while continuing to pay for the education of their children, who attend high school, middle school and primary school.

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The rice left from the aid is only three kilograms. We cannot work, even though we need food. We need rice, medicine and clean water, not to mention the children’s school expenses.

The destroyed house represented a decade of sacrifice. Seriani and her husband had worked away from home in Kalimantan for 10 years and saved to build it. She said the earthquake destroyed that effort in seconds, leaving the family living among makeshift shelter in a pigpen and chicken coop. She appealed to the government to see their situation directly and help rebuild the damaged house.

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We spent 10 years working away in Kalimantan just to build this house. Then the earthquake came and destroyed everything in an instant.