Palu, Indonesia, 1 October 2018.
Friday evening, September 28, the brothers of our community in Palu, Indonesia were startled by a series of violent earthquakes. Many buildings and roads in the city were severely damaged. Some time later the city was hit by a 6 meter high tsunami that caused even greater destruction. At this moment the death toll has already risen above 1000.
For a few days there was no contact possible with the brothers in the affected area, but on Monday, October 1, there was contact. The brothers are safe and the house has withstood the earthquake well. The Brothers Yasintus Seran, Gerfasius Soli, Matias Borlak and Andy Effruan have accommodated the pastor of the parish. The community has a good water supply. The people from the neighbourhood come to the brothers to wash themselves and to wash their clothes. Thanks to a generator, they also have light at night. Communication with the outside world is still very difficult. There is no information yet about the schools where the brothers work.
The General board members Brother Lawrence Obiko and Brother Benyamin Tunggu are currently on a working visit to Sulawesi. When the earthquake struck Palu, they were in Ge’tengan, about 250km further south. They did feel the earthquake and had to leave the house temporarily, but there was no further damage. According to plan they would visit Palu at the end of this week. It is not yet clear whether that visit can take place.
We try to keep in touch and ask everyone to pray for our brothers and all the people involved in this disaster in Palu. (The picture of the house is from our archives. There is no current image material.)