‘Relief’ at NZDF’s quake rescue
The sense of relief was “palpable” among the 120 survivors huddledin the NZ Defence Force Hercules aircraft as it took off from the tsunamidevastated Indonesian city of Palu.
The evacuees had slept on the streets and queued to be among those evacuated by the NZDF, which offered its services after the September 28 magnitude 7.5 earthquake.
The destination was the port city of Balikpapan, but the NZDF had to drop off 10.6 tonnes of aid to Palu first.
Flight Lieutenant Dave Natapu said he’d rarely witnessed desolation like he saw in Palu from the air.
“The scale of destruction was worse than I had anticipated.”
The Indonesian authorities and Palu and Balikpapan locals thanked the NZDF personnel, Natapu said.
“Our Hercules was one of the first two foreign aircraft to deliver aid to Palu and Indonesian soldiers cheered as we offloaded the supplies yesterday,” Natapu said.
“There was a palpable sense of relief from the evacuees when they got into our Herc.”
The disaster has killed more than 1550 people in and around the port city of Palu on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Officials believe more people are still missing.
Major General Tim Gall said the Hercules and a 14-member NZDF detachment would continue to help transport aid and emergency responders to Palu and evacuate displaced people.
“Together with New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, we are pleased that we are able to lend a hand to the Indonesian authorities at this critical time.”