Palu, Central Sulawesi — In their endeavor to support the Central Sulawesi recovery effort, which was almost completely destroyed after being hit by the earthquake and tsunami, PT Mowilex Indonesia (Mowilex), has directly distributed humanitarian aid to the victims in three affected towns which are Palu, Sigi, and Donggala, through the Mowilex Humanitarian Care Program.

This aid was in the form of 15 tons of food and 4,000 packages (detergents, bath soaps, toothpaste, and toothbrushes), as well as cash collected from fundraising from all employees at Mowilex  to the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI).

“We gave our attention to the people of Palu when we heard this awful news, so we tried to send out aid as fast as we could to the inhabitants and people of Palu. 100 percent of our aid is in the form of food and toiletries that is urgently needed by the inhabitants of Palu at this moment,” said Mowilex President Director, Lily Liliana. 

The devastating earthquake, which measured at 7.4 on the Richter scale destroyed several towns and regions in Central Sulawesi on September 28, 2018. The earthquake was felt the most in Palu, Donggala, and Sigi. This earthquake caused 2,081 fatalities, 1,309 persons declared missing, and 206,219 people to lose their homes.

“We want to make the people in Palu understand that they are in our hearts and minds at this moment. And, so that they know that we are always there for them for the short term and also in the long run,” added Lily.

Meanwhile, Mowilex General Affairs and Safety, Health and Environment Manager, Suratman, adds that there were many Mowilex employees that volunteered to be directly involved in the field to distribute aid to the victims. 

“We realize that this aid effort isn’t without risks, in the end, employee volunteers from the company were aided by the Indonesian Armed Forces [TNI] to escort the Mowilex team to various disaster areas,” said Suratman. 

Other than distributing food aid and toiletries, Mowilex was also involved in restoring the mental health of evacuee children. One of  these efforts is to aid the Psychosocial [Health] Support Programs (PSP) at several evacuation centers.

Indonesian Red Cross PSP Services Coordinator in Palu, Malla Sari, stated that Mowilex’s initiative to support the psychological recovery of evacuees, especially children, was urgently needed bearing in mind the potentially huge traumatic impact on children.

“This (mental health recovery effort) will be continued to be carried out because psychological condition recovery is just as important as infrastructure recovery after a disaster,” she said.