The Vatican press reported that this sum is intended to be "an immediate expression of the feeling of spiritual closeness and fatherly encouragement from the Holy Father towards the people and territories affected and will be shared, in collaboration with the Apostolic Nunciature, among the areas most affected by the catastrophe."

The Dicastery's contribution to the disaster relief is part of the aid that is being activated throughout the Catholic Church.

In addition to various Episcopal Conferences, it involves numerous charitable organisations.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Malteser International were among Catholic aid agencies sending emergency response teams to Indonesia.

The local CRS team is working closely with its Caritas partner and additional teams have been deployed from around the world to assist with pipeline logistics, temporary shelter and relief supplies.

CRS is supporting Caritas staff and volunteers to respond to people's most urgent needs with temporary shelter materials like tarps, blankets and sleeping mats, as well as sanitation kits, clean-up and other supplies.

"Because of the many injured survivors, the healthcare facilities need to be put back into service as soon as possible," says Nicole Müller, Mission Director of Malteser International in Indonesia.

"Therefore, we will equip the centres with medical equipment and medicines."

In addition, Malteser International is providing emergency funds to allow relief supplies to be distributed to surrounding communities.

Help has also come from the Catholic church in Korea and in Italy

Source

• press.vatican.va
• malteser-international.org
• crs.org
• Image: arabianbusiness.com

Clement said he had been informed by Father Johanis Salaki from the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Palu that there are reports of at least two churches damaged.

"Their walls are cracked. In some cases, heavy steel pillars have become detached from their brackets," he said.

He also reported that a number of priests suffered minor injuries in the earthquake.

Clement reported that at least 500 priests, nuns, seminarians and lay catholics have been forced to relocate to the compound of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish since the disaster.

A big number of teens attending a Bible camp are confirmed among the dead. "They are Catholic and Protestant students who were on a retreat in the location," said Albert Podung, a church worker who lives in Palu.

They were at the Pusdiklat GPID Patmos 'Jono Oge,' a church training centre in Sigi, located outside the provincial capital of Palu.

Officials say that another 52 young people are still missing from the camp. They expect the death toll at the Jono Oge to climb further as recovery continues.

The centre is affiliated with Palu's largest denomination, the Indonesian Protestant Church in Donggala (GPID), with around 40,000 members.

Source

• ucanews.com
• bangkokpost.com
• christianitytoday.com
• abcnews.go.com
• chvnradio.com
• ncronline.org
• Image: rollercoaster.ie

Yenni Suryani said with the airport damaged, getting access to Palu and Donggala is a huge problem. Responders and local aid groups have drive overland 10-12 hours.

That means a bottleneck for relief supplies in coming days. Landslides are hindering road travel in some places, she said.

"There's very limited electricity in Palu but power is out almost everywhere. Some mobile phone towers have been repaired allowing limited communication, but it's unreliable."

Sunyani said she was worried about people who might have been washed away.

Indonesia's Vice-President Jusuf Kalla has pointed out that when the Indian Ocean tsunami struck in 2004, the death toll recorded that night in Aceh, on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, was around 40 people.

The eventual body count in Aceh exceeded 130,000.

The island of Sulawesi has been divided, at times bloodily, between Muslim and Christian populations.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was widespread communal violence in and around Poso, a port city not far from Palu that is mostly Christian.

More than 1,000 people were killed and tens of thousands dislocated from their homes as Christian and Muslim gangs battled on the streets, using machetes, bows and arrows and other crude weapons.

Source

• crs.org
• newstalkzb.co.nz
• wral.com
• nytimes.com
• wyomingpublicmedia.org
• Image: timescolonist.com (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

And Catholic hospitals in Indonesia have sent medical teams to treat hundreds of people injured in the earthquake.

Speaking to ucanews.com on 7 August, Sister Paulina, a member of the Congregation of Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit and spokeswoman St. Anthony Catholic Hospital in the provincial capital of Mataram, said "Medical workers are really needed right now to treat the victims."

She said the hospital had treated more than a dozen victims.

"We placed them in the hospital's parking area as the situation was unpredictable, aftershocks continued to happen," Sister Paulina said. "This morning we took them to the hospital's treatment rooms."

The Jakarta archdiocese has asked each parish to decide how they should go about collecting for the earthquake victims.

Father Samuel Pangestu, the archdiocese's vicar-general, said there are various things each parish could do.

"They can use the second collection of Sunday Mass or distribute empty envelopes to parishioners [to make donations]," he told ucanews.com.

He said all funds collected would be sent directly to Denpasar Diocese.

Denpasar Diocese has issued a similar appeal.

The appeal called on parish priests to encourage parishioners to provide aid for quake victims.

The diocese recommended that parishes and Catholic foundations send financial aid or basic necessities such as rice, instant noodles, cooking oil, drinking water and milk.

Speaking with ucanews.com, Father Dewantoro said distribution would be carried out in cooperation with Caritas Indonesia.

"With the bishop's approval, we will use the money to buy necessities.

"An emergency response team will deliver material aid including mattresses, blankets and food this Friday," he said.

Source

• ucanews.com
• ucanews.com
• Image: Screenshot abcnews.go.com