President Jokowi sends aid for earthquake victims in Turkiye, Syria

Jakarta, The Gulf Observer: President of Indonesia Joko Widodo (Jokowi) sent a humanitarian aid package to help earthquake victims in Turkiye and Syria.

“Humanitarian diplomacy is continuously carried out by Indonesia, and this morning, we will send four planes to Turkiye and to Syria,” President Jokowi stated at the Halim Perdana Kusuma Airport in East Jakarta, Tuesday.

Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy and Chief of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Suharyanto will also depart to personally deliver the aid.

“It contains 140 tons of food and other logistical materials that are really needed there,” the president stated.

President Jokowi earlier remarked that Indonesia had also sent a SAR team and a medical team as well as field hospital equipment.

“Hercules aircraft also really helped in the initial evacuation of the earthquake victims in Turkiye and Syria,” the president added.

In the first stage of assistance, Indonesia sent a search and rescue (SAR) team of 49 people with international qualifications.

An emergency medical team was sent in the second stage of assistance to establish an Indonesian Field Hospital.

The hospital has a capacity to perform emergency surgery for fractures and serves an average of 120 patients per day.

“We hope that what we send will be able to help our brothers and sisters there,” the president stated.

Until now, four Indonesian citizens, including a mother and a child, fell victims to the earthquake in Turkiye. The two victims have been buried in Turkiye, as they died with the father, who is a Turkish citizen.

Two other Indonesian citizens — Irma Lestari, 33, and Ni Wayan Supini, 45, — were found dead after they were buried under the rubble of Galeria Apartment Building in Dyarbakir City.

The bodies of the duo, who worked as spa therapists, are being handled by the Indonesian Embassy in Ankara and are scheduled to be flown to Indonesia on February 22.

Earthquakes, with magnitudes 7.7 and 7.6, struck Turkiye on February 6, 2023, and were centered in Kahramanmaras Province. The tremors of the earthquakes were felt all the way to Syria and Lebanon.