Following the earthquake in West Sulawesi, Indonesia earlier this month, the Islamic Relief team is on the ground providing life-saving support and scaling up the response according to increasing needs locally.

To date, Islamic Relief Indonesia has distributed three tonnes of rice, 300 trays of eggs, 300 tarpaulins, 300 food packs, 600 blankets, 300 hand soaps, 300 boxes of masks, and 300 bottles of hand sanitiser. This was divided between two villages: Ratetonda and Mekkata. The emergency is going into the next phase where water supplies, long- term hygiene interventions and shelter needs will be addressed. The full extent of the earthquake is still being determined with some villages still only accessible by helicopter.

Nanang Dirja, Islamic Relief’s Country Director in Indonesia said:

“Thousands of people have fled their homes, hundreds of buildings have been damaged or destroyed and many hospitals have been evacuated. It’s a challenge to reach the affected areas as landslides have occurred, roads are blocked and electricity and phones lines are down. People are panicking about possible aftershocks that might trigger a tsunami.

“We have deployed a team to the area, which will start by distributing water, food parcels, tarpaulin, blankets and face masks, as the spread of Covid-19 is a huge risk in such a chaotic and crowded disaster zone. We are also providing vehicles to help evacuate the wounded to get medical treatment.”

Islamic Relief Australia is proudly supporting these efforts. Now is a critical time when we need your support.