Resilience in the face of disasters is shown not only by providing assistance to the affected communities, but also to oneself. Aslimah, who is a member of the Pakembinangun Disaster Risk Reduction Forum (FPRB). She is a person with physical disability from Pakembinangun Village. At the time of the eruption in 2010 she took the initiative to immediately evacuate independently to a safer place. She did this based on the official instruction to evacuate when the status of Mount Merapi was on Alert Level.

"During the eruption in 2010 the instructions given to evacuate were very fast. Aware of such  risks, I immediately evacuated to my friend's house in Mlati. I was sheltered there for about two months. During my stay there, I received assistance from the government. But, I was not able to earn a living for several months. Two months after the eruption, I was able to sell fragrant roots again in Tlogo Putri", she further explained.  

In addition, one of the reasons for evacuating independently is due to the information from her friends, the displacement site in Maguwoharjo is not accessible for disability groups.  The crowded and uninsulated conditions of emergency shelters made Aslimah feel uncomfortable and unsafe. Moreover, the available bathrooms are also few and not accessible for at-risk groups. Therefore, she prefers to take shelter in her friend's place, so that it is easier to take care of herself.

Before meeting YEU and being involved in FPRB, she was not familiar with advocacy initiatives for persons with disabilities in relation to disaster management. Since FPRB Pakembinangun was re-activated, she saw an opportunity for groups of persons with disabilities to get equal rights, especially on disaster risk reduction and disability-friendly accessibility. She also began to recognize the need for psychosocial support for displaced people after experiencing a disaster. At FPRB Pakembinangun, she has a focus on psychosocial support. Aslimah is also active in the village meeting for development planning at her village. As representative of the persons with disabilities, she is grateful to be involved in those meetings.

On her account, YEU helped her to learn about FPRB and Disaster Risk Reduction. She attended various trainings such as disaster risk management, first aid training for nonmedical persons, data sorting and rapid assessment, camp management and public kitchens, as well as formulating Contingency Plans with the FPRB Pakembinangun team. In addition, she was involved in the mock drill of the Merapi Volcano eruption in December 2023 organized by YEU, BPBD Sleman, and Kalurahan Pakembinangun.

Aslimah (left) as a keynote speaker during YEU Volunteers Day 2023

As a mother of 3 children,she is also active in various activities with the PPDI (Perhimpunan Penyandang Disabilitas Indonesia - Indonesian Association of People with Disabilities) and the HWDI (Himpunan Wanita Disabilitas Indonesia - Indonesian Association of Women with Disabilities. The training she received was on improving skills such as assembling electronics, training in making handycrafts, as well as photography for product sales. Together with her friends at HWDI, she was also invited as a speaker at the YEU Volunteer Day activity on 12 December 2023. She shared her experiences during the eruption of the Merapi Volcano in 2010. On that occasion, she explained that when in the shelters, groups of persons with disabilities need specific nutritional intake. Moreover, they  require more energy to be able to move, walk and carry out other activities as they use assistive devices.

Aslimah hopes for the Government and YEU to provide assistance for groups for persons with disabilities, such as through door-to-door assistance, especially for groups with severe disabilities on the information sharing and capacity building. In disaster risk reduction training, the expectation is not only on the training session, but also direct practices and application in everyday life.  As for the government, they need  to pay more attention to accessibility in public facilities.