South-Asian tsunami [letter]

Assessing the vital needs of disasterstricken populations is essential to determine major health problems and priorities for aid interventions. Lamno town (4000 inhabitants) is located 40 km south of Banda Aceh on the western coast of Sumatra Indonesia. After the tsunami struck on Dec 26 2004 about 8000 people from surrounding villages found shelter in 11 sites (tents schools and mosques) located throughout the town. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) accessed Lamno on Jan 6 2005 to provide medical care and safe drinking water to the displaced. On Jan 15 and 16 2005 an epidemiologist did an assessment in a school where 2014 displaced people from nine villages received medical assistance from MSF. This assessment included a survey and general observations. The sample size was chosen to represent 20% of this population. In each of the 15 classrooms of the school six heads of family were randomly selected by systematic sampling and interviewed with a pretested questionnaire. Interviews were done in Indonesian or Achanese and translated into English. (excerpt)