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Talk of the week: Taiwan announces US$500,000 for Indonesian tsunami relief fund
Temporary residence: Residents take shelter in Jami Al-Mu’min Mosque in Labuan district, Pandeglang, Banten, on Dec
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emporary residence: Residents take shelter in Jami Al-Mu’min Mosque in Labuan district, Pandeglang, Banten, on Dec. 22, following a tsunami that hit western coastal areas of Java. (Antara/Muhammad Bagus Khoirunas)
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recently announced that the Taiwanese government will donate US$500,000 to support relief efforts in Indonesia. As a result of a volcanic eruption and a deadly tsunami that occurred on the evening of Dec. 22 on the beaches of Lampung and Banten, more than 400 people were killed and hundreds others were injured .
The tsunami was triggered Saturday night by underwater landslides caused by the eruption of the Anak Krakatau volcano in the Sunda Strait, which lies between the islands of Java and Sumatra, according to various sources.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency was quoted by kompas.com as saying that, as of Dec. 31, the natural disaster had killed 437 people and injured 14,059 others, while 16 people remain missing with members of the National Search and Rescue Agency still looking for them.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs will hand the relief funds to the Indonesian government to assist the country in post-disaster relief efforts and aid in the reconstruction of areas affected by the natural disaster, according to the ministry’s official statement made available to The Jakarta Post.
The statement said that Taiwan’s decision to make the donation was based on humanitarian needs and the close friendship between Taiwan and Indonesia, while adding that, as a Southeast Asian country, Indonesia was also Taiwan’s important partner in its ongoing new southbound policy.
Currently, more than 260,000 Indonesian migrant workers work in Taiwan, while another 5,000 Indonesian students study in the country, according to the ministry’s data.
Besides providing the monetary assistance, the ministry also announced that Taiwan’s military force was standing by to deploy four C-130 transport planes to Indonesia to help the latter with its disaster relief work, pending a decision by the Indonesian side.
The ministry also confirmed that six Taiwanese citizens who were previously stranded in the wake of the volcanic eruption and deadly tsunami, had safely been evacuated.
