CARITAS Australia is responding to last weekend’s earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale that devastated the Yogyakarta region in Indonesia, killing more than 5000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.
Caritas Australia, the Catholic Church’s overseas aid and development agency, is part of a confederation of 162 Catholic aid agencies, which is jointly assisting disaster victims in five regions of Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta province in central Java.
Caritas agencies already had pre-positioned resources in central Java in the event of displacement of the people living in the surrounding regions of the erupting Mt Merapi volcano.
Caritas Australia is working with Catholic network partners in Yogyakarta, including the Crisis and Reconciliation Centre of the Bishops’ Conference of Indonesia, Catholic Relief Services and the Jesuit Refugee Service, which are carrying out assessments on the ground in the affected regions.
Donations can be made by phoning 1800 024 413, posting cheques/money orders to GPO Box 9830 in your capital city, or online at www.caritas.org.au
