The government yesterday announced plans to donate US$250,000 to Indonesia to help with relief work in the wake of a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that left scores dead on the island of Lombok.
The earthquake struck Lombok on Sunday evening, killing at least 130 people.
“My thoughts are with the victims of the deadly earthquake in Lombok, Indonesia. Taiwan stands ready to help our Indonesian friends at this difficult time,” President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) wrote on Twitter on Monday.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
At a news conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director-General Baushuan Ger (葛葆萱) announced that Taiwan would donate US$250,000 to assist relief efforts.
However, the details of the donation would not be announced until a later date, Ger said.
The Taipei Economic and Trade Office (TECO) is in talks with local officials and non-governmental organizations to see how the money could best be used to help victims of the quake, he added.
During an interview on Monday, Indonesian special envoy to Taiwan, Ang Tjoen Ming, said he hoped that Taiwan’s donation could be used to help earthquake victims build 100 houses, as many homes in Lombok were damaged or destroyed.
Expressing Taiwan’s concern over the earthquake, Ger said that Indonesia is an important partner in Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy.
A large number of Indonesian workers are employed in Taiwan, while another 6,000 students from Indonesia attend schools in Taiwan, he added.
There are 259,930 Indonesian workers in Taiwan out of a total foreign workforce of 670,000, Ministry of the Interior data showed.
Meanwhile, TECO officials have been in contact with 17 Taiwanese who were in Lombok during the quake, Ger said, adding that all were confirmed to be safe.
The Taiwan Business Club, a Jakarta-based organization representing Taiwanese businesses in Indonesia, yesterday said it would join an effort by TECO to collect donations for quake victims.
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