| Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, March 14 (ANTARA) - Indonesia began on Monday evacuating its nationals from disaster-stricken areas in Japan with some 104 evacuees expected to arrive in Jakarta on Tuesday. They arrived in Tokyo from Sendai on Monday. More than 400 Indonesians living in different parts of earthquake and tsunami-stricken regions in Japan are going to be evacuated to Tokyo and eventually sent home, Indonesian ambassador to Japan Muhammad Lutfi said. 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. However, evacuation will be carried out for those living in three most affected areas, namely in Iwate Prefecture, Miyagi and Fukushima. There were 496 Indonesian citizens who were spread in the three areas located near the epicenter of the earthquake. They were 140 people in Iwate Prefecture, 274 people in Miyagi and 82 people in Fukushima City. Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa said on Sunday 121 Indonesians would be relocated from Sendai on Monday, who consisted of 60 percent men and 40 percent women. "The 121 Indonesians are expected to leave from Sendai and arrive in Tokyo on Monday evening," the minister said, adding that most of the evacuees are students comprising 60 percent of men and 40 percent of women. On Friday, Japan was hit by an earthquake measuring 8.9 on Richter scale that triggered a towering tsunami which crippled the north-eastern region of Japan, killing at least 1,000 people. Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa immediately reported the disaster to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who ordered immediate safety efforts. "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," the foreign minister said. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday asked the foreign affairs ministry and Indonesia's diplomatic mission in Japan to locate all Indonesians following last Friday (March 11)'s natural disaster. In the meantime, Indonesian Minister for Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Linda Amalia Sari Gumelar asked the Indonesian embassy in Japan to prioritize women and children in its efforts to help Indonesians affected by Friday's earthquake and tsunami disaster. "We have contacted the Indonesian Embassy in Japan and discussed the fate of women and children affected by the earthquake and tsunami," said Linda Gumelar Monday. Linda said her ministry has contacted the Indonesian Embassy in Japan to ensure that Indonesian citizens there remained in good condition, especially women and children. "I am really concerned about the disaster, and I want to make sure that children and women residing in that country are safe," she said. In order to provide assistance, the embassy has set up and sent teams to the affected regions to provide help for Indonesian nationals. "The Indonesian Embassy has set up a team for rescuing our people in Japan, especially those who are staying in Iwate Prefecture, Miyagi and Fukushima. An airplane has been sent to evacuate them to Tokyo," said Ambassador Lutfi. The Indonesian embassy has rescue teams Miyagi and Iwate prefectures who arrived on Saturday. "The Indonesian embassy in Tokyo sent two evacuation teams to Miyagi and Iwate on Saturday," the embassy said. Yet some Indonesians are running short of logistics in Sendai for example. Tens of Indonesian nationals sheltered at Sendai are in dire need of food and drink, according to the embassy in Tokyo. Right now priority in the distribution of food is gaven to senior citizens and children while the supply of drinking water is also limited. But a team of embassy employees had arrived at Sanjo junior high school building where the Indonesian nationals were being sheltered. They later set up a public kitchen to provide food to the Indonesian nationals. Yet a shortage of foodstuff posed an obstacle. They were all in good health, though some of them began to complain about poor facilities at the evacuee camp. In Sendai, capital of Miyagi prefecture, the relief team evacuated on Monday ten Indonesians. Head of the National Workers Placement and Protection Agency (BNP2TKI) Jumhur Hidayat said the ten evacuees consisted of seven nurses and three students. The seven nurses were Mugiyati, Desi Subarkan, Jajang Rahmat, Emey Wahyudi, Siti Nur Lailiay, Wihel Maridadewi and Wisita Permanasari while the three students who were also evacuated to Tokyo were Robert Dwipura,Tahta Erlangga and Achmad Faisal Dwiputra. "They are expected to arrive in Tokyo at midnight today." Jumhur said on Monday. Jumhur also pointed out that there were four Indonesian nurses in Fukushima prefecture who survived the earthquake and tsunami. The whereabouts of the four Indonesian nurses were previously not known but later it was reported that they were safe and had been evacuated to a Tokyo military hospital. They were taken to the hospital to be examined whether or not they were exposed to radiation following the explosion of a nuclear power plant (PLTN) in Fukushima as a result of the quake and its subsequent tsunami. The four Indonesian workers were Dwi Astuti from Klaten district, Central Java; Puspawati from Mimika Baru, West Papua; Harlina Semi from Panakkukang, Makassar; and Yulianti from Senapelan, Pekanbaru, Riu province. |
Senin, 14 Maret 2011
RI BEGINS EVACUATING ITS NATIONALS FROM JAPAN
Selasa, 01 Februari 2011
RI CITIZENS EVACUATED FROM TENSION-PLAGUED EGYPT
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, Jan 31 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government has finally decided to evacuate its citizens and deploy commercial and military airplanes to fly home over 6,000 Indonesians from Egypt which is now being plagued by political tension. The decision to evacuate Indonesian citizens from Egypt was made in a cabinet meeting on Monday following the worsening of political tension and social unrest in Egypt where demonstrators demanded that President Hosni Mubarak step down. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during a cabinet meeting on Monday ordered the evacuation of Indonesian citizens and the formation of an evacuation task force. The task force consisted of personnel from Health Ministry and Transportation Ministry and is led by former foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda who is also a member of the Presidential Advisory Board. President Yudhoyono said the evacuation would be carried out using commercial and other planes possible for use for it. The planes will depart from the country. "If necessary they will start leaving to Cairo tonight," he said. According to Hassan Wirajuda, the team that will be assigned to evacuate Indonesian citizens in Egypt is leaving for that country on Monday night. "We will send an advance team tonight," Wirajuda said at the Presidential Office. He said that the team was expected to leave for Egypt at 3.0 a.m Tuesday at the latest. The advance team would arrange everything needed in the first phase of evacuation where priorities would be given to evacuating about 1,200 women and children. He said that the government had made three airplanes available for the first phase of the evacuation. The three planes will come from Garuda Indonesia, Lion Air and Sriwijaya Air. They will also be used to transport various kinds of logistic supplies to meet the daily need of the Indonesians still staying in Egypt. In the meantime, the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) is preparing a heavy transport plane C-130 Hercules to help evacuate Indonesian citizens who are trapped in the Egyptian political unrest. Air Force Spokesman Air Commodore Bambang Samoedro said here on Monday that his side had not yet decided how many Hercules planes would be deployed. "The number of planes will largely depend on the situation and condition in Egypt," he said. As regards, the Air Force will send its Deputy Chief Vice Marshal Soekirno, Military Police Commandant Air Commodore Soedipo and Flight Col. Yuyu Sutisna as an advance team to Egypt. "They will be leaving tonight," Bambang Samoedro said on Monday. The government has named Nasr City as the meeting point before evacuation is carried out. This city is near the place where Indonesians are gathering. Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said that the planes were now ready to fly to Egypt to carry out air evacuation. However, the Indonesian government still needed to coordinate with the Egyptian government to obtain license for the planes to land in that country. Marty said that the Indonesian government's decision to evacuate its citizens was based on consideration that the situation in Egypt was turning more and more dangerous. He said that effort to ensure security in Egypt were now in the hands of the military, no longer of the police. Even, a police station near the Indonesian embassy has reportedly been destroyed by demonstrators. The foreign ministry's latest data indicated that Indonesian citizens staying in Egypt numbered 6,149, consisting of 4,297 students and 1,002 employees and their family members. They are now building communications in 20 command posts. Earlier, Deputy Foreign Minister Triyono Wibowo said the government is greatly concerned about the fate of over 6,000 Indonesians in Egypt where the situation is still very tense. "We hope the situation in Egypt could be well under control, while actually we did not wish to middle in the situation in that country, and we are therefore deeply concerned about the fate of our 6,045 people there," he said on Sunday. On the sidelines of a discussion on regional border at the University of Narotama (Unnar) in East Java, he said the government's attention to its citizens in Egypt is seeing that Indonesians are free from suffering. "Some of our people in Egypt are students, workers, and many have other professions, but since the last couple of days (Jan 28) our government has issued an official notification in the website of the Indonesian mission in Egypt," he said. The notification hoped Indonesians need to remain calm and stay home and avoid points of restlessness, and at any time may contact Indonesian representative mission there if they knew something bad had happened. "Up till now none of our people had been hurt, especially that in addition to the 6,045 Indonesians officially listed at Indonesian representative offices, some had yet to be registered," he said. On Sunday, Indonesian Ambassador to Egypt A.M. Sachir said his side had asked the Egyptian military authorities to protect Indonesian citizens following the current tension in that country. "We have asked the military which is taking over the handling of security affairs to protect Indonesian citizens," the ambassador said. He said that up to now all Indonesian citizens in Egypt were secured although demonstrations were still taking place in a number of regions there. The ambassador said there are about 5,000 Indonesian citizens in Egypt, about 4,000 of whom are students who mostly stay in big cities such as Cairo. "Resettlement centers where Indonesian citizens are staying are far away from locations of demonstrations, which are mostly organized in big cities and strategic areas," the ambassador said. Yet, the Indonesian embassy in Cairo has provided directions for Indonesian citizens asking them to stay alert over the developing situation in Egypt. |