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Indonesia to send rescue, medical teams to help Turkey with disaster relief efforts
The government is preparing to dispatch a search and rescue team, a medical team and other humanitarian aid to Turkey as the death toll from Monday's earthquakes reaches 17,000, with thousands more injured or left homeless in winter.
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People sit near a bonfire amid the rubble of collapsed buildings in Kahramanmaras on Feb. 8, 2023, two days after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southeast Turkey, which was followed by a 7.5-magnitude tremor and a series of aftershocks. (AFP/Ozan Kose)
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ndonesia is preparing to send a search and rescue team, medical workers and logistical aid to Turkey following the devastating earthquakes on Monday that rocked parts of Turkey and Syria and killed around 17,000 people to date.
The government plans to send an urban search and rescue (USAR) team of 47 internationally qualified personnel from the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) and 12 personnel from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB). The team, along with equipment and two rescue vehicles, are to be flown in by a Hercules aircraft belonging to the Indonesian Military (TNI).
“The team will take off in the next day or two. We are currently waiting for flight clearance to [transport] the personnel and their equipment from Indonesia,” BNPB spokesman Abdul Muhari told a press briefing on Thursday.
A separate team of 90 health workers from the Health Ministry, the TNI and the National Police, as well as humanitarian organizations, would also be deployed to Turkey, where the team was expected to set up an emergency hospital, Muhari said.
The two teams will not be entering Syria, already devastated by nearly 12 years of civil war.
The government was “still assessing the situation in Syria, whether we can deploy the rescue team or the medical team” to the country, Muhari said.
Read also: Indonesia ‘stands ready’ to assist Turkey, Syria
