Malaysia to send support and donation to Indonesia

Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. -AP

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has responded to Indonesia’s call for international aid in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Sulawesi by pledging to send support and donation.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (pic) said she had spoken to Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla over the phone about sending rescue teams to help with the disaster.

“We offered help and he said they were now open to receiving support and donation.

“We will send SMART (Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team) teams for search-and-rescue (efforts).

“We will also give a donation of RM500,000 in aid of the victims,” she told reporters at the Asian Para Games 2018 flag handover ceremony yesterday.

Dr Wan Azizah said the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) was organising early coordination efforts with the Asean Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management, Royal Malaysian Air Force and United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot in Subang Jaya.

She said coordination efforts were also being made among the Malaysian Red Crescent Society, Mercy Malaysia, Islamic Relief Malaysia and other NGOs.

“We have already sent some volunteers but they are stuck in Makassar,” she said, adding that the volunteers were still working out the logistics of reaching Palu.

In the meantime, she said emergency medical teams would be readied to be mobilised at any time while Nadma was monitoring the situation.

According to the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta, the two Malaysians who were evacuated from Sulawesi were Dr Farah Liana Basri and Vijayan Govinathan Nai.

Dr Farah arrived here from Jakarta at 4.30pm yesterday while Vijayan is scheduled to fly from Poso in Central Sulawesi to Jakarta today.

A spokesman said they were working to transport Vijayan back to Malaysia in the shortest time possible.

The embassy urged anyone with information about their Malaysian family members or friends who were affected by the earthquake to contact the embassy at [phone] immediately.

Central Sulawesi was struck by a 7.5-magnitude earthquake and tsunami last Friday.