Call center set up to assist foreign visitors after Lombok quake

People crowd the shore of a beach as they attempt to leave Gili Trawangan in Lombok, on Monday, in this still image taken from a video. (Courtesy of/YB Deddy Haryatmo)

NUSA DUA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry has opened a call center for foreign tourists and their relatives following a fatal earthquake that hit West Nusa Tenggara on Sunday.

The number for the call center is +6287864124151, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on Monday.

“Our team, led by [the Foreign Ministry’s Indonesian citizen protection director Lalu Muhammad] Iqbal, has already been at the scene in West Nusa Tenggara. Another team is to join,” she said.

Lombok Island, located in West Nusa Tenggara, was the scheduled venue for a meeting on counterterrorism that was to be attended by delegations from different countries, including Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. The meeting was postponed following the earthquake.

“All delegates are safe and some have been evacuated back to their home countries via Jakarta and Denpasar,” Retno said in Nusa Dua, Bali, where she was set to host the seventh Bali Process Ministerial Conference from Tuesday to Wednesday.

Read more...