Indonesia Tsunami: Direct Relief Issues $100,000 Emergency Operating Grant to Local Response Group

Muhammadiyah volunteers support relief efforts after an avalanche in Central Java. (Photo courtesy of MDMC)

By Lara Cooper

October 3, 2018

Direct Relief announced Wednesday that it will provide $100,000 to one of Indonesia’s largest civil society organizations, Muhammadiyah, which is actively responding to last week’s devastating earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 1,300 people and displaced thousands.

The Muhammadiyah Disaster Management Centre has dispatched medical personnel and an urban search and rescue team to Sulawesi to assist with rescue operations.

Large-scale disasters often raise the need for social services while decimating the local capacity to provide them. Direct Relief confronts this challenge by channeling resources to locally-run organizations like Muhammadiyah, recognizing that the everyday services they provide in their communities become even more critical in times of crisis.

Muhammadiyah operates a robust network of clinics and hospitals across Indonesia and plays a key role in disaster relief efforts. Direct Relief and Muhammadiyah have worked together during past emergencies, including the South Asian earthquake and tsunami of 2004, the 2006 earthquake centered near Yogyakarta, Indonesia, as well as the Lombok, Indonesia earthquake, which rattled the region in August 2018.

Urban search and rescue teams look for survivors in Indonesia after last week’s devastating earthquake killed at least 1,300 people. Direct Relief is supporting groups on the ground, like the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance, or AHA Centre, and Muhammadiyah Disaster Management Center. (Photo courtesy of the AHA Centre)

In addition to providing cash support to Muhammadiyah, Direct Relief has offered $30 million in medical resources from its current inventory to the ASEAN Coordination Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre), which is working to support the National Disaster Management Authority of Indonesia.

Direct Relief signed an agreement in 2016 with the AHA Centre to pre-position medicines and supplies throughout the ASEAN region. Supplies from Direct Relief are currently ready for deployment from the UN Humanitarian Response Depot in Subang, Malaysia. Supplies include anti-infective products, bandages, medical consumables, and personal care items for 5,000 evacuees or displaced people.

Direct Relief will continue coordinating its response with local organizations, providing emergency operating funds as well as prescription and over-the-counter medications, nutritional products, water purification solutions, and other requested medical items.