T

he government has sent its first batch of disaster relief to Nepal to assist those affected by the devastation caused by a recent 7.8-magnitude earthquake and its continuing aftershocks.

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi led the departure ceremony to send 6 tons of first aid and a 67-member team comprising medical staff, NGO activists, disaster mitigation personnel and media to the region, the first of three deliveries bound for the Nepali capital.

'€œAfter such a brief period of preparation, I'€™m pleased to announce that today, Indonesia was able to send the first round of disaster relief to the government and people of Nepal, who have suffered a devastating earthquake that resulted in the deaths of more than 4,000 people,'€ Retno said during her opening remarks at the departure ceremony at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta on Wednesday.

Retno said the aid was one form of Indonesia'€™s solidarity toward Asian and African countries, a point she said President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo had emphasized in the recent Asian-African Conference Commemoration events.

The minister briefed the team of medical practitioners and disaster mitigation experts on their two main objectives in the operation. '€œ[The team] will help evacuate all Indonesian citizens, including those whom have yet to be contacted by the ministry, as well as other victims of the disaster,'€ she explained.

'€œThe team will also relay the first aid to the people and assess what is further needed by the people in Nepal.'€

According to her, the ministry has not been able to contact 17 out of the total 95 Indonesian nationals currently in the region.

The aid is being sent using an Indonesian Airforce-owned Boeing 737-400 and is scheduled to arrive early on April 30 in the Nepali capital of Kathmandu.

The flight is slated to make stops in Banda Aceh and then in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to pick up Indonesian Ambassador to Bangladesh and Nepal Iwan Wiranataatmaja, who will lead Indonesian operations on the ground.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) chief Syamsul Maarif, whose institution is taking part in the joint operation, said that the inner team of professionals consisted of 30 personnel from the BNPB, the Foreign Ministry, military, general practitioners, orthopedists and pharmacists.

According to the agency'€™s data, the flight will carry US$2 million worth of disaster relief, comprising 2 tons of breast milk supplements, 500 body bags and two packages of medicine from the Health Ministry; 4,500 blankets from the Social Affairs Ministry; 105 tents, around 4,000 packages of food, three electric generators and 2,000 body bags the from BNPB, among other items.

There will also be contributions from several civil society groups amounting to 6.75 tons of first aid supplies and rations.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry'€™s director for the protection of Indonesian nationals and entities abroad, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, said that the seven-day operation would utilize the same transport plane to carry home the Indonesian nationals that are safe and still in the region.