Based on the agency's written statement on Saturday, BNPB Chief Suharyanto confirmed that the 15 Indonesian health workers dispatched for the mission have arrived in Vanuatu following their departure on Friday (December 27).
He noted that the Indonesian team will work from January 2025 to February 2025, replacing the Australian emergency response team, whose work in Vanuatu will conclude on January 4, 2025.
"The emergency medical team (EMT) from Indonesia's Health Ministry will provide emergency medical care and medicine supplies for residents in Vanuatu," Suharyanto remarked.
The agency chief stated that Indonesia's assistance to Vanuatu reflects friendship and humanitarian solidarity between the two nations.
He affirmed that it also helps enhance bilateral relations in disaster mitigation and response in the Pacific and Oceania regions.
The 15 paramedic personnel consisted of five specialist doctors comprising a surgeon, orthopedist, internist, anesthesiologist, and emergency medicine physician; three general practitioners; five nurses; a pharmacist; and a logistics expert.
In addition to dispatching an emergency medical team, the Indonesian government sent humanitarian aid weighing 50.5 tons and valued at Rp11.7 billion to Vanuatu. The aid was carried aboard two flights that departed from Jakarta on Friday.
The 7.3-magnitude earthquake that hit Vanuatu on December 17 affected 80 thousand people, including 14,104 children and 769 people with disabilities.
The disaster killed 18 people, left 200 people injured, and forced 947 others to seek shelter in churches and residents' homes in the regions of Manples, Britano, Kaweriki, and Kona. The country set an emergency status on December 17–24, 2024.
Related news: Indonesia ready to assist Vanuatu earthquake victims, says Prabowo
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Translator: Riezko Bima Elko, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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