Indonesia Quake: UN Country Team Issue Stand-down Notice for International Relief Response

The following e-mail has been recevied by many international aid agencies, search and rescue crews and other stakeholders who have stepped up resources to respond to this disaster, from the UN Disaster Assessments and Coordination (UNDAC) and UN Country Team (UNCT), notifying them to stand-down from launching a major international relief response while stating that this is not a large scale catastrophe in Indonesian context, and the Government of Indonesia is in a position to respond to this emergency, with UNCT and relevant aid agencies support who are already based in-country:

"The UNCT team arrived in Bengkulu this morning. The team visited the hospital where they met the Minister of Social Affairs. They also met the Acting Governor and other government officials. They have information from all sub-district except two northern outlying sub-districts. 123 houses collapsed, 1,200 houses heavily damaged, and 2,400 houses lightly damaged. Six people reported dead and 23 injured according information from local authorities.

The general impression is that this is not a large scale catastrophe in Indonesian context, and the Government of Indonesia is in a position to respond to this emergency. There are needs for non-food items for IDPs (currently around 1400 persons), and rehabilitation of damaged houses. These we hope could be met with in-country resources.

Upon consultation with the humanitarian coordinator we do not expect establishing a major relief operation. We also do not think a major international relief response would be needed. Agencies in the country will be advised to provide support. We are monitoring the situation closely and will issue a situational report today. The team will leave behind two members to collect information on the remaining two sub-districts. The remaining will return to Banda Aceh. They will look into possibility of dropping two members in Padang to have an assessment but we already know from the local authorities that it is also not as devastating"

Tags: [South East Asia/Indonesia] [Earthquakes] [Breaking News/Disaster/Emergency/Humanitarian/Relief/Rescue]