Jakarta. Indonesia sent off humanitarian aid worth approximately $1.2 million to the quake-hit Myanmar on Thursday morning.

A deadly 7.7-magnitude quake struck ASEAN member Myanmar last Friday with the tremors being felt in neighboring Thailand. Not long after the disaster, President Prabowo Subianto said that Indonesia would stand ready to lend Myanmar a hand.

A few days later, Indonesia dispatched Myanmar-bound humanitarian aid from Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma airport. The 124-ton relief mainly encompasses shelters, medical equipment, and medicines. Indonesia plans to deploy 157 search-and-rescue and emergency medical team personnel. As many as 69 Indonesian personnel headed to Myanmar that day. Prabowo was scheduled to send off the Myanmar-bound humanitarian assistance but was represented by Foreign Affairs Minister Sugiono.

“Our meetings with ASEAN’s foreign ministries revealed that the most-needed items were shelters, medical equipment, and medicines. This is why [such items] represent a large part of what we are sending [to Myanmar],” Sugiono said. 

Sugiono said that Myanmar's security and political situation was still far from conducive. Reports showed that the latest death toll from the recent earthquake had surged to 2,886 people. The disaster also injured 4,639 people. Over 300 individuals have gone missing.

To date, Indonesia has yet to receive reports of its citizens being victims of the Myanmar earthquake, according to Sugiono. Myanmar is home to approximately 250 Indonesians.

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