The SurfAid teams based in SurfAid’s head-quarter offices in Padang and the Mentawai Islands, are all safe and sound following a 6.9 magnitude earthquake that shook both locations May 14th at 12.05 Indonesian time. The epicenter of the quake was just 50km west of Padang. There have been no reports of deaths or serious injuries either in Padang or Nias.SurfAid medical team members in the field on board the Nauli – the boat used for emergency mobile medical clinics in the area - reported widespread panic.

“We were anchored 50 meters away from Teluk Dalam in Southern Nias,” said SurfAid team leader Angie Bexley.  “Everyone was onboard when we felt a slow rippling movement that obviously wasn’t the natural motion of the waves that lasted three to four minutes. We could see people running on land. No houses fell, primarily because most of them have all been destroyed by the big quake in March. TVs got shaken off tables, fridges fell over. But people are incredibly frightened. We visited the village after the quake. People had evacuated up to the hills, but they have gradually been coming back to the village as fears of tsunami recede. This quake however has definitely re-traumatized them.”

Currently SurfAid has stood down from emergency response and is resuming public health and malaria prevention post-disaster programming in the Mentawai Islands, Nias, Simeulue and the Banyak Islands.

With the help of your donations, SurfAid as your humanitarian vehicle has achieved the following results since the Dec. 26th Tsunami and subsequent March 28t earthquake:

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SurfAid has:

• Distributed 300 tons of emergency aid
• Immunized over 11,000 children in over 50 villages
• Conducted search and rescue missions in over 20 villages and medivac-
  ed over 50 people by helicopter   
• Surfaid medical teams have served populations of over 150,000 people
  throughout the hinakos, nias and simeulue
• Treated over 2,500 people for injuries or illnesses      

SurfAid is making a long-term commitment to rebuild and renew health care for the people in these regions.  A band-aid solution has never been good enough. Our goal is to not only save lives today but into the future as well. A wave of compassion.  Get on it!

Individuals and retailers make a donation TODAY at www.surfaidinternational.org

Storms Brought Record Pollution to Californian Beaches

SanDiego - Record rains over the past year in California brought unusually high levels of pollutants to the state's legendary beaches, a study released on Wednesday found.  In its annual "Beach Report Card", Heal the Bay, a Santa Monica-based environmental group, gave 90 percent of California's 463 monitored beaches grades of C, D or F following inclement weather.

"That tells us we're not doing our job of reducing storm water pollution," said Mark Gold, the executive director for the group. "California's efforts to protect public health at the beach have been woefully inadequate." Storm drain run-off polluted the most, followed by sewage spills, said the report, which recommended that swimmers wait at least three days before taking to the waters after storms.

About 100 million people visit California's beaches each year. Those who are exposed to pollutants such as fertilizer, motor oil, human and animal waste and plant matter, risk skin and sinus infections, stomach problems and a host of bacterial infections.