President Jokowi: Evacuation of Victims to First Priority

Jakarta -President Joko Widodo stressed his ranks to prioritize the evacuation of victims as the first step in handling the earthquake and tsunami disasters that hit Central Sulawesi.

This was conveyed by the President to the journalists after reviewing a number of disaster affected points, Sunday (09/30/2018).

“I stressed the first most important thing to all ministries, the TNI, the National Police, and the Governor, so that the first handling is related to evacuation,” said the President, quoted from an official statement.

Regarding the evacuation process, the President said that there were several villages that were still unable to be evacuated due to the limitations of heavy equipment.

“Tomorrow morning God willing, the Minister of Public Works has deployed heavy equipment from Mamuju, from Gorontalo, from Poso, heading here and tonight will come, so tomorrow morning the evacuation will begin in places we still think there are victims we cannot take, “he said.

Meanwhile, to help distribute water and food supplies, the President said the government would prepare special aircraft. This is considering the condition of airports that have not been able to operate normally.

“Because the airport is still an emergency, it cannot be landed yet, later we will prepare a special plane so that food can enter here,” he said while reviewing Talise Beach.

When meeting the President at Talise Beach, the public was worried about important missing documents. The Head of State said that the public must report to the authorities first.

“I’ll report to the police first. I’ll come here again in two weeks to make sure,” he said.

The government is committed to improving public facilities affected by the earthquake and tsunami. The reconstruction and rehabilitation process according to the President will be carried out after the evacuation phase is complete.

“Including collapsed bridges, damaged hospitals, damaged airports, damaged schools, and government work,” he said.

After reviewing the four points affected by the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Palu today, the President and his entourage immediately returned to Jakarta.

Through Sis Al Jufri Airport, the aircraft carrying the President took off at around 5:05 p.m. and arrived at Halim Perdanakusuma Jakarta Air Force Base at around 18:20 WIB.