MERCY Malaysia Sends Assessment Team to Indonesia in Response to Mentawai Earthquake and Tsunami

27 October 2010 – MERCY Malaysia will deploy a two-member Rapid Assessment Team to Padang, Indonesia in response to the 7.7-magnitude earthquake and 10-foot-high tsunami which struck the Mentawai Islands recently.

The team is led by MERCY Malaysia Executive Council Member, Norazam Ab Samah, accompanied by MERCY Malaysia Medical Coordinator, Sister Che Tah Hanafi. They will be conducting an on-the-ground assessment to determine the humanitarian needs within the affected region.

“Our initial disaster assessment team will ascertain the level of devastation, destroyed infrastructure and most importantly, the health needs of the tsunami-affected people. Only then can we have an accurate picture of how to best assist the emergency response on the ground there,” said MERCY Malaysia President, Dato’ Dr. Ahmad Faizal Mohd Perdaus.

“We have been constantly updated by our local Indonesian volunteer, Azrim Mirza, stationed in Medan, and with his assistance our team we can be more efficient and cost-effective,” he said.

The team will leave for Padang, Indonesia tomorrow, 28 October 2010, Thursday, before making their way to the Mentawai Islands.

MERCY Malaysia will continue to monitor the situation through on-the-ground assessments to look into other areas of humanitarian assistance.

Concerned Malaysians can donate to the MERCY Malaysia Humanitarian Fund through MAYBANK, account number 5621-7950-4126 or CIMB Bank, account number 1424-000-6561053.

 

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About MERCY Malaysia

MERCY Malaysia is a non‐profit organisation focusing on providing medical relief, sustainable health-related development and risk reduction activities for vulnerable communities in both crisis and non-crisis situations. MERCY Malaysia recognises the value of working with partners and volunteers as well as providing opportunities for individuals to serve with professionalism. We uphold the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief and hold ourselves accountable to our donors and beneficiaries. As a non‐profit organisation, MERCY Malaysia relies solely on funding and donations from organisations and generous individuals to continue our services to provide humanitarian assistance to our beneficiaries.

Important Note to Media: Usage of Wordmark MERCY Malaysia 

In order to avoid confusion with other organisation(s) that uses “Mercy” as the organisation’s name or part of the organisation’s name, please take note that in addressing the name of our organisation, the wordmark for MERCY Malaysia is with capitalised “MERCY”, followed by the word “Malaysia”. When describing the organisation, the term “MERCY Malaysia” must always be used in full, and should not be partially referred to as “MERCY”, or “Mercy”. Thank you for your cooperation.

For further information, kindly contact:

Mas Elati Samani,
Head of Communications and Strategic Engagement,
MERCY Malaysia
Level 2, Podium Block, City Point, Kompleks Dayabumi, Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin, 50050 KL.
T: 6-03-2273 3999 F: 6-03-2272 3812
E: mas@mercy.org.my W: www.mercy.org.my