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Add to Preferred SourcesThe UN Migration Agency (IOM) has allocated USD 200,000 from its emergency funds to kickstart an emergency response operation following the powerful earthquake and ensuing tsunami that hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Friday.
“IOM has been meeting with government counterparts, including the Ministry of Social Affairs, and UN partner agencies to discuss the immediate priorities and needs identified by the government. We want to target areas where our intervention can have the greatest positive impact and offer the most support to the government’s ongoing efforts. We will be putting forward proposals which may include deployment of our displacement tracking matrix (DTM) – a tool that maps how many people have been displaced, where they are and their immediate needs, to inform the humanitarian response,” said IOM Indonesia Chief of Mission Mark Getchell.
Other areas in which IOM may be able to help could include the establishment of a “humanitarian bridge” by which non-food relief items from IOM stockpiles in the region can be delivered to government staging points in the affected areas. Evacuees can then be transported out of the affected areas on the returning empty vehicles/vessels. The deployment of shelter and camp coordination and camp management (CCCM) experts could be another possible area of assistance, Getchell added.
IOM Jakarta is convening a meeting of the IOM-supported Indonesian National Cluster on Protection and Displaced Persons to further discuss the best ways forward in response to the disaster. According to the Indonesian authorities, immediate needs in addition to evacuation, include health, fresh water, food, hygiene and shelter.
An IOM disaster response expert will join other UN Humanitarian Country Team members on the 3rd of October on an assessment mission to the affected area led by the Jakarta-based ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre.)
The 7.4 magnitude earthquake and the wall of water that crashed into Palu, a city of 350,000, has claimed at least 844 lives and injured hundreds more. Many outlying areas close to the quake’s epicenter in Donggala remain cut off due to landslides and infrastructure damage, and there are fears the casualty toll will rise sharply in the coming days. More than 200 aftershocks have hit the area since Friday.
Earthquakes are common in Indonesia, one of the most seismically active countries on earth. On 5 August, a 6.9 magnitude quake and a series of strong aftershocks struck the island of Lombok, 1,700km from Palu, killing at least 430 people and injuring 1,300 more. Tens of thousands remain displaced and more than 67,000 houses are reported to have been damaged.
Original source: IOM
Published on 2 October 2018