Another quake rocks Palu as Indonesia tells aid workers to leave
An Indonesian soldier helps a New Zealand aid worker offload supplies at Palu on Monday. Photo: Getty
Indonesia has ordered independent foreign aid workers to leave the earthquake zone and said foreign groups with staff in the disaster area on Sulawesi island should pull them out.
Despite facing the aftermath of a 7.5 quake and tsunami that devastated Sulawesi on September 28, killing at least 2002 people, some foreign groups say they have faced difficulties getting entry permits to bring in staff and equipment.
There have long been restrictions on the activity of foreign aid workers, and the national disaster agency, in a notice posted on Twitter, set the rules out for foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Foreign groups are not allowed to “go directly to the field” but must conduct all activities “in partnership with local partners”, it said.
Regulations for International NGOs qim to provide assistance in Central Sulawesi Province. pic.twitter.com/2LhypKpJ12
— Sutopo Purwo Nugroho (@Sutopo_PN) October 8, 2018
“Foreign citizens who are working with foreign NGOs are not allowed to conduct any activity on the sites affected,” it said.
“Foreign NGOs who have deployed its foreign personnel are advised to retrieve their personnel immediately,” the agency said in its English-language notice.
“The quake was felt strongly for five seconds,” he said.
No one knows how many people are missing, especially in areas of southern Palu devastated by soil liquefaction, but it could be as high as 5000, the national disaster agency said.
About 70,000 people have been displaced.
The impact of earthquacke and tsunami in Central of Sulawesi Province at October 8, 2018 (13.00 WIB/local time). pic.twitter.com/cJN5u6glO1
— Sutopo Purwo Nugroho (@Sutopo_PN) October 8, 2018
Many of the displaced in Sulawesi are living in basic shelters in Palu and surrounding hills. A plan to relocate communities is being drawn up, the agency said.
The government has allocated $US37 million ($A52 million) for quake relief and has said 20 countries have offered help.
The news comes after another earthquake rocked Palu on Tuesday, the Indonesian city devastated by last month’s earthquake and tsunami, causing panic but no reports of damage, an official said.
The magnitude-5.2 quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres with the epicentre 5 kilometres north-east of Sulawesi, said Sutopo Nugroho, National Disaster Management Agency spokesman.
-AAP
