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With a glut of food and medical supplies piling up, a displaced persons camp in West Java has become an impromptu crisis center for surrounding areas after last week’s earthquake.

The camp, in Pamalayan village in Garut’s Cikelet subdistrict, has received massive attention from donors. The Air Force, which has a base in the area, was first on the scene to provide aid and rapidly erected six tents to house displaced persons.

In the first week after the camp opened, 36 private companies gave donations, and aid keeps flowing in. Situated along a busy trans-Java road, it is hard to miss, which could account for the camp’s popularity with donors.

“Thank God we have enough to feed ourselves three times a day, but we cannot help but think that there are other more remote areas that are not as fortunate as us,” camp coordinator Nurhassan told the Jakarta Globe. “We take whatever spare food we have and redistribute it to other camps.”

Nurhassan said residents at camps in the Linggamanik village, for example, survive on only one cup of instant noodles each day. “That’s why every time a donor comes here, we explain to them that some of the aid will be redistributed. We pile it all up here and, with the help of the military, we transport it to other camps.”

Asep Mulyadi, an earthquake survivor and an official at the Pamalayan camp, said they don’t encourage donors to go to other camps themselves.

“The other areas have very limited access. Unless someone is driving a four-wheel drive [vehicle] and is a skillful driver, going there would be suicidal,” he said. “The distance from here to Linggamanik is only eight kilometers, but it’s a two-hour ride by motorcycle. If it rains, then it’s a four-hour walk.”

At just 35 kilometers from the center of the quake, the Cikelet subdistrict is one of the most affected. A total of 923 houses were destroyed, leaving 3,289 residents homeless.

Damaged houses are clearly visible from the main road, with virtually none left standing. The exceptions are small semi-permanent wooden homes, which are more flexible and thus more resistant to quakes.

Many residents there — mostly fishermen and farmers — have a common dream of building permanent brick homes.

For resident Sarifudin Hadi, that dream was destroyed in the earthquake.

“It took years for me to finally own a brick home,” he said. “Now that I’ve lost my home, it is impossible for me to own again. I’m too old and can’t go as far from shore as I used to. I can probably afford to build a wooden one in one or two years time in my condition.” Nivell Rayda