Trump voices support for Indonesia after tsunami’s ‘unthinkable devastation’
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Sunday offered a message of support after a volcano-triggered tsunami left 222 people dead and hundreds more injured in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait.
“Unthinkable devastation from the tsunami disaster in Indonesia,” the Republican leader tweeted.
“More than two hundred dead and nearly a thousand injured or unaccounted for.
“We are praying for recovery and healing. America is with you!”
He joined the chorus of world leaders voicing condolences after the destructive wave struck the area with little warning, destroying hundreds of buildings and uprooting trees.
“I want to extend my deepest sympathies to the Indonesian people who have been hit so hard once again by natural disaster,” Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said on Twitter.
TheUNandEuropeanUnionboth pledged to mobilize humanitarian support if requested by Jakarta.
“The United Nations stands ready to support the ongoing government-led rescue and relief efforts,” a spokesman for UN Secretary- General Antonio Guterres said in a statement.
In Kabul, Afghan Foreign Minister conveyed his country’s sympathy and condolences over the loss of lives in the tsunami.
“Ministry of Foreign Affairs of theIslamicRepublicofAfghanistan expresses its sympathy due to the death and injury of hundreds of citizens of the Republic of Indonesia, caused by the tsunami that hit the country,” the ministry said in a statement.
Earlier Afghan government Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah tweeted, “Deeply saddened by the losses and damages caused by the recent tsunami in Indonesia. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, government and people of Indonesia.”
Abdullah stated that Afghan people “stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Indonesian at this difficult time.”
The tsunami was the third major natural disaster to strike Indonesia in the space of six months, following a series of powerful earthquakes on the island of Lombok in July and August and a quake-tsunami in September that killed around 2,200 people in Palu on Sulawesi island, with thousands more missing and presumed dead.
It also came less than a week before the 14th anniversary of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, one of the deadliest disasters in history that killed more than 220,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean, including some 168,000 Indonesians. — AFP