INDONESIA OFFERS US$1 MILLION IN AID, SEND RESCUE TEAM TO NEPAL by Fardah

    Jakarta, April 27, 2015 (Antara) - As a country prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes, Indonesia has also felt the suffering  of Nepalese whose country was devastated by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake on April 25, 2015.

        Soon after the news about the deadly quake reached Jakarta, the government expressed its deepest condolences over the heavy loss of lives, and offered US$ 1 million in humanitarian aid.

        Indonesia will also send a rescue team and extends moral support to the people of Nepal in facing the disaster, the government said in a press statement on April 26, 2015.     
   The Indonesian Foreign Ministry has coordinated with relevant agencies in its plan to send humanitarian aid that includes medical personnel, SAR assistance, instant food, blankets, emergency tents and medicines, to Nepal, the statement said.

        The ministry also has coordinated with the Indonesian Embassy in Dhaka, Indonesian honorary consul in Kathmandu and several sides to monitor Indonesian citizens in Nepal.

        "I have just told the ministers. Indonesia is ready to provide assistance," President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) told the press.

         The president estimated that relief aid from Indonesia for the victims  in Nepal to arrive in three to four days, because the airport in Kathmandu was damaged by the earthquake.

         Jokowi affirmed that Indonesia that has experience in post-disaster work, such as after tsunamis and earthquakes, will not only provide aid but also send search and rescue and medical teams to the quake-hit areas in Nepal.

         The Indonesian government will dispatch the donation and a rescue team to Nepal when the airport of the country, which was hit by a massive earthquake, is repaired and able to receive airplanes.

        In addition, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs A. M. Fachir stated that the dispatch was hampered by a devastating landslide that damaged Nepal's airport.

        "The president has approved the sending of the donation and relief aid such as tents, blankets, and medicines. They are expected to be sent soon. However, the airport is damaged, not closed," Fachir noted.

        "There is no access. The airport is not operational and the power supply is off," he pointed out.

        Once the airport resumes operations, the government will send assistance to Nepal immediately.

        "The airport is most likely being repaired now. We will hopefully be able to dispatch the assistance soon," he remarked.

        An NGO, Quick Response Action (ACT), will soon send a team from Global Humanity Response (GHR) to help with earthquake relief efforts in Nepal.

        "The team will conduct an initial assignment and recovery action in accordance with the priority needs of the Nepali people after the earthquake," the GHR director Imam Akbari said here on Monday, adding the team is scheduled to leave for Nepal on Monday night.

         As many as 3,218 people were killed and some 6,500 others injured in the powerful earthquake that struck Nepal at midday on Saturday, authorities were quoted as saying on Monday morning by Xinhua.

         The 7.9-magnitude quake jolted the central, western, mid-western and far-western parts of Nepal, which was followed by at least 15 strong aftershocks, with the last one of 6.7 magnitude occurring on April 26 afternoon.

        The quake has also caused property damages worth billions of US dollars in the country.

        Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi said some 49 Indonesian citizens were in Nepal when the powerful earthquake jolted the country.

         "Of the 49 Indonesian citizens in Nepal, 18 were settled there, while 31 others were on a visit," Retno Marsudi stating, adding that 19 of them had already been contacted, but the rest were unreachable as the communication links were disrupted due to the earthquake.

        But, another report said that the number of Indonesian nationals in Nepal was 34 when the quake struck the country.

        Of the total, 17 people were contacted, while the whereabouts of 17 others were still unknown, the foreign ministry remarked.   
   The missing Indonesians include three climbers, who were last known to scale Yala Peak in the Langtang area, Nepal.

        "The latest update is that we still cannot contact our friends who are in Nepal, not to mention the bad reception of cellular phones there," according to spokesman of the climber's hiking club crisis center, Grahito Handaru, in Bandung, West Java, on April 27, 2015.

        The three climbers identified as Jeroen Hehuwat, Kadek Andana, and Alma Parahita are the members of Bandung's Taruna Hiking Club.

        "As per the last established contact, they had not yet reached the climbing area, but then the earthquake struck there," Grahito noted.

        According to Grahito, the three climbers, who left Indonesia for Nepal on May 19, 2015, were in Langtang Village to make the required preparations for the climb and had planned to head to Khyangin Gompa.

        The hiking club's crisis center has been coordinating with the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Red Cross to locate the climbers, he said.

        According to Reuters, the powerful earthquake struck Nepal and sent tremors through northern India, toppling a 19th-century tower in the capital Kathmandu and touching off a deadly avalanche on Mount Everest.

        There were reports of devastation in outlying, isolated mountainous areas after the midday quake of magnitude 7.9, Nepal's worst in 81 years, centred 50 miles (80 km) east of the second city, Pokhara.

         The media reported a collapse in communications hampered relief efforts, raising fears of a humanitarian disaster across the impoverished Himalayan nation of 28 million people.

         A tourism official said at least 10 people were killed when an avalanche unleashed by the earthquake swept through the Everest base camp, where more than 1,000 climbers had gathered at the start of the annual climbing season.

         Google executive Dan Fredinburg was among the dead on Mount Everest.

         A second tourism official, Mohan Krishna Sapkota, said it was "hard to even assess what the death toll and the extent of damage" around Everest could be.

        "The trekkers are scattered all around the base camp and some had even trekked further up. It is almost impossible to get in touch with anyone," he was quoted as saying by Reuters. ***4***
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