Indonesia on Tuesday told foreign aid workers their help was not needed in disaster-ravaged Palu and they should go home, frustrating relief efforts after a quake-tsunami killed more than 2,000 people. Foreign teams on the ground were told new rules barred them from searching for the dead in hard-hit parts of Palu, where thousands are missing since the September 28 twin disaster.
Indonesia initially refused international help but President Joko Widodo reluctantly agreed to allow in overseas aid once the picture became clearer on Sulawesi island. Foreign aid poured into the ravaged city of Palu where authorities believe 5,000 people could be missing and 200,000 survivors desperately need food, water and other life-saving supplies.
But international search and rescue teams were prevented Tuesday from accessing hard-hit parts of Palu, where thousands are believed to be buried underneath rubble. Ahmed Bham, from South African charity Gift of the Givers, was told that new rules barred foreign urban search and rescue teams (USAR) from playing any part in retrieving the dead.
They were told "all foreign USAR teams should make their way obviously back to their countries. They don't need them in Indonesia", he said. "We've got experienced search and rescue teams here in Indonesia with really specialised equipment. I'd like to use them," he told AFP in Palu.
Their 27-strong team arrived in Palu three days ago from Johannesburg, but days of delay frustrated their wish to join the search for the dead. "A lot of days were wasted... where we could have assisted and used our expertise and skill," Bham said. "There seemed to be - I won't say red-tape - but it was just like, 'you can't work here, you can't do this, you can't do that'. It's something we haven't experienced in other major disasters like this."
Indonesia's disaster agency issued a set of rules over the weekend instructing international staff to leave Palu, and requiring foreign donations be channelled through local partners. "The truth is that they have put out a statement saying foreign personnel should be withdrawn," World Vision Australia chief advocate Tim Costello told Australian broadcaster ABC on Tuesday. "It is very odd as foreign journalists are free to walk around and report. This is what's very strange."