UK sends aid as Indonesia pleads for quake help
Britain will send a team of aid experts to Indonesia after its government made a plea for help in dealing with the aftermath of the Sulawesi earthquake. The official death toll has risen to 844 and mass graves are now being dug on the island as hundreds of victims remained unburied.
BRITAIN will send a team of aid experts to Indonesia after its government made a plea for help in dealing with the aftermath of the Sulawesi earthquake.
The official death toll on the Indonesian island has risen to 844 and mass graves are now being dug on the island as hundreds of victims still remained unburied after four days.
The Department for International Development (DFID) confirmed five British aid workers will be deployed, along with £2 million of support to help the thousands left homeless.
It is unclear whether the Britons, who will act as humanitarian advisers, will move around with support from the Indonesian military or the UK’S Ministry of Defence.
The British Government is reportedly considering deploying other operational assets in the area to further assist relief efforts. The Royal Navy is understood to have two ships in the region, a helicopter and an RAF C-17 aircraft, which could be called upon.
Penny Mordaunt, the International Development Secretary, said yesterday: “The UK offers its deepest condolences to those affected by the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia, which has left hundreds of people dead and thousands more homeless and in need of urgent help.
“Following a request from the government of Indonesia this morning, we are deploying a team of UK aid humanitarian advisers to the region who will use their disaster response expertise to help coordinate efforts on the ground.
“I have made an initial £2million of UK aid support available to help meet immediate needs of the most vulnerable people.”
Thirty-four children at a Christian camp were revealed yesterday to be among the victims.
An Indonesian Red Cross spokesman said a church in the Sigi district, south of the badly damaged city of Palu on Sulawesi island, has been engulfed in mud and debris. Officials said the area suffered liquefaction, when the shock of the 7.5 magnitude quake temporarily destabilised the soil. Palu, a city of 350,000, began to bury its dead in mass graves yesterday, as rescuers continued to search for survivors in the rubble. Tiopan Aritonang, a local army commander, said 545 bodies would be brought from one hospital alone.
Willem Rampangilei, chief of Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency, said the trench in Palu was 33ft by 330ft and can be enlarged if needed.
All of the victims have been photographed to help families locate where their relatives are buried.
The death toll is expected to rise into the thousands as areas cut off by the damage are reached.
Dozens of people were reported to be trapped in the rubble of several hotels and a mall in Palu. Hundreds more were feared buried in landslides that engulfed villages.
Of particular concern is Donggala, a region of 300,000 people north of Palu and close to the epicentre of the quake, and two other districts, where communications have been cut off.
As fuel, water, food and medical supplies ran out, thousands of desperate residents gathered at Palu airport trying to escape.