Communications are down. It is difficult to connect to themJakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia is working to locate and save 31,517 nationals who might have been affected by the tsunami that hit Japan early on Friday.
"We will collect information as fast as possible. Certainly this news is shocking. We hope the situation will not deteriorate and our people could all be protected," Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said here on Friday.
Marty said he had reported the situation in Japan to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the President had also ordered immediate safety efforts.
According to data of the Foreign Ministry, 31,517 Indonesians are at present living in Japan, mostly or around 24,000 in Tokyo and around 6,700 in Osaka.
He said the Indonesian embassy in Tokyo is having difficulties locating their whereabouts because communication links to the regions were cut.
"Communications are down. It is difficult to connect to them," he said.
Marty said however that he had been able to communicate with the embassy which said that the tsunami-hit areas were still in panic.
Marty said he had ordered the embassy to locate all the Indonesian citizens. He said the embassy actually has records of the residences of the citizens but checks had to be made to assure if they were in their residences or other places.
Asked if the government planned to evacuate the citizens later or just secure them, Marty declined to explain but said he hoped Japan that has been known as a state that is always ready to deal with earthquakes and tsunamis would be able to manage the situation well.
"Hopefully, it would help reduce the negative impact on our country," he said..(*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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