Indonesia Quake: National Response to disaster underway

The President of Indonesia has instructed Menko kesra (Coordinating Ministry for Emergency Response), the national Police and Army (TNI) to prepare for deployment to the earthquake affected regions to assist in search and rescue and assess the needs of the people displaced by the earthquake.Several ministers are also expected to fly to the earthquake affected region at day break tomorrow (local time).

Department of Social Affairs (DepSos) in Indonesia has stated that it is sending search and rescue team along with medical teams to Bengkulu. Depsos is attempting to acquire more accurate information on the impact of the earthquake. The Governor of Bengkulu reports that the earthquake response system in Bengkulu province was activated immediately after the earthquake and is operating well.

An additional note via sms has just come in via a citizen blogger at Detik.com regarding a tsunami alert which was reported as an aftershock by Metro TV (via Jakarta Post)where the recent earthquake of 6.6 RS (5.9 RS USGS) in 33km underground off the south west coast of Sumatra has triggered a Tsunami alert. However, no tsunami has been reported.


Source: Detik.com / Menko Kesra