AMURT & AMURTEL sent an emergency response team to Padang, Indonesia immediately after the earthquake in West Sumatra on 30 September 2009. After the initial emergency response period, AMURTEL identified a need for Early Childhood Development (ECD).
AMURT in India has been active in most major disasters since 1965. In recent years multiple teams responded to the Gujarat Earthquake 2001, the Asian Tsunami in 2005, and floods in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
The heart of this child-centered approach lies in the child's right to choose from among various options, what activity he/she would like to do, with the stipulation that the child must complete the activity chosen before moving on to pick another activity.
In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, AMURT and AMURTEL focused on providing emergency supplies to the survivors. We distributed more than US$300,000 worth of food and non-food, medical and recreational items in the first three months to thousands of tsunami survivors in different parts of Aceh.