Turkish agency 1st to aid quake-hit Indonesia's Lompio

By Mahmut Atanur

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AA) - The charity group of Turkey's top religious authority was the first to deliver aid to the disaster-hit people of Lompio, a small region in Indonesia.

Abdullah Ucak, a humanitarian aid expert at Turkiye Diyanet Foundation (TDV), told Anadolu Agency that the foundation was the first to reach the area located in the Donggala Regency.

Ucak said a month's worth of aid supplies consisting of basic needs, including food and personal care items, was distributed to some 1,040 families.

He recalled that he reached Lompio together with Selahattin Karabostan, another expert, on the fourth day of the earthquake -- which struck Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island on Sept. 28 -- and carried out a needs analysis.

After the analysis we immediately initiated aid efforts, Ucak added.

He also said help was underway in an extensive area in the quake-hit region for those who face difficulties in meeting their basic needs, particularly in rural areas.

On Sept. 28, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Sulawesi Island, which triggered a tsunami in Donggala and Palu cities that towered up to 10 feet (3 meters) high.

The disaster has caused over 2,000 deaths, according to military authorities in the region on Tuesday.

The death toll is feared to rise as at least 5,000 people were still missing, according to Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB).