REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Indonesian military (TNI) has sent 100 personnel of its Marine Corps to help victims of the 7 magnitude earthquake in North Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. The military personnel was dispatched from Halim Perdanakusuma airport in Jakarta by the assistant of the military chief for operation, Maj.Gen Lodewyk Pusung on Monday, aboard a Hercules C-130 aircraft.
The Marine joint team comprised of medical team, infantry, cavalry, engineers, and logistical team. The military deployment was an order from President Joko Widodo to the Military Chief Air Chief Marshall Hadi Tjahjanto for immediate action, Pusung said.
"You have to prepare yourselves. Prepare the logistics," he said before the military personnel.
He called on the team to give priority for evacuation of injured victims to get medical treatment. "But it does not mean that we ignore the dead victims."
The team has carried along medical equipment, medicines, six tents for field hospital, logistical truck, ambulance. The TNI has also deployed the Army Strategic Command (Kostrad) personnel from Malang, East Java to help the victims of the earthquake that has killed 91 people.
"Currently, we are preparing a floating hospital, KRI Soeharso-990 that willbe dispatched from Surabaya," he added.
Meanwhile a military spokesman Maj. Gen M Sabrar Fadhilah said, 82 Kostrad personnel were dispatched to Lombok at 6.00 a.m. to help the victims. Some 100 personnel of the Marine-2 Corps from Surabaya would also be deployed through Surabaya Navy Airport.
A 7-magnitude earthquake hit North Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara on Sunday, epicentered at 10 kilometers below the sea surface.
As of Monday, the dead victims has reached 91, West Nusa Tenggara Disaster Management Office said. A spokesman of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said, most of the dead victims were crushed by collapsed buildings.
"The worst affected regions are North Lombok district, East Lombok and Mataram City," he said.
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