JAKARTA: All Malaysians on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, which was struck by a 7.4 magnitude earthquake and 3-metre high tsunami on Friday, are accounted for and safe.
A total of 288 Malaysian students are enrolled at Universitas Hasanuddin and Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu dan Bahasa in Makassar, South Sulawesi, and none of them was near the epicentre of the earthquake – the bay city of Palu.
“All of them are reported safe. The distance between the earthquake’s location and Makassar is about 700km.
“In fact, no Malaysian was reported to be in the area,” said Education Malaysia’s attaché in Indonesia, Mohd Mubarak Shamsuddin.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Embassy in Indonesia is working closely with local authorities to gather more information about the disaster.
The death toll from the powerful earthquake and tsunami was reported to have reached almost 400, with thousands of houses and buildings destroyed.
Indonesian National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) head of data information and public relations, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, said yesterday that electricity and communications networks in central Sulawesi have been severed.
“This makes the effort to collect data and information on the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami difficult,” he said.