Foreign countries and international institutions have offered to help with relief efforts in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), which was hit recently by powerful earthquakes. Prevailing regulations, however, do not allow them to be directly involved in distributing the assistance.

“A number of countries have expressed their willingness to help [...] The local disaster mitigation agency and relevant agencies will carry out an assessment and determine whether they need [foreign] assistance,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said on Friday.

South Korea has provided US$500,000, while the Chinese Red Cross Society and the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta have prepared $100,000 and Rp 962 million ($66,445) in supplies to support relief efforts in Lombok. The assistance was received by the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) on Friday.

Foreign ministers of ASEAN member states have also offered to extend “cooperation and support, based on the priority areas of relief efforts as identified by Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency [BNPB].”

BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said help had also been coming in from Australia and Chinese Taipei.

“We welcome the assistance, but we can’t just accept everything because there are procedures to follow [...] For the time being, Indonesian authorities can handle the disaster mitigation,” he said.

Government Regulation No.23/2008 on the role of international non-government organizations and foreign assistance in disaster mitigation requires relevant authorities to consult with the Foreign Ministry before accepting assistance in cash form, while coordinating with other relevant bodies before accepting other forms of aid. International organizations aiming to take part in relief efforts should also coordinate with local authorities and fulfill certain requirements before commencing with the work. Such regulations prompted rescue teams on the field to exclude personnel dispatched by a foreign NGO who intended on helping with search and rescue operations on Wednesday.

Local BNPB head Willem Rampangilei said local authorities were hesitant to accept foreign assistance as they still had tons of undistributed aid.

“We appreciate the offer, but there are mechanisms and we also have specific needs. Piling up aid may create a new problem, too,” Willem said without elaborating on the details.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo reiterated on Friday the government’s commitment to help Lombok recover after the deadly earthquakes, which killed at least 321 people and displaced over 270,000 residents. He promised that the government would provide financial assistance to rebuild damaged houses.

According to the BNPB, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake on Sunday evening severely damaged more than 60,000 houses.

National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) head Air Marshal M. Syaugi said the Lombok quake had not been declared a national disaster because the government had pledged that it had the capacity to handle the disaster mitigation with available resources.

“In the meantime, we have adequate resources to handle disaster mitigation,” Syaugi said on Friday.

Basarnas has deployed 320 personnel and heavy equipment for the operations to rescue earthquake victims trapped under collapsed buildings. The agency has found and retrieved 257 bodies from under the debris, Syaugi added.

Local politicians in the province have called on the central government to declare the Lombok earthquake a national disaster to open doors for foreign assistance.

NTB Council deputy speaker Sulhan Mukhlis said he was pessimistic that the administrations of three affected regions — North, Central and East Lombok — would be able to tackle the problems that had emerged from the disaster on account of limited finances.

— Panca Nugraha in Mataram and Gemma Holliani Cahya in Jakarta contributed to the story

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