Catholic agencies provide support after Indonesia quake

By CathNews New Zealand

August 28th, 2026

A building destroyed in the Flores earthquake (National Agency for Disaster Countermeasure/Wikimedia Commons)

Catholic charities and groups in Indonesia have reached out to communities on Flores Island with food, medicines and medical teams to help them recover after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake. Source: UCA News.

Church charity networks have rushed to provide support as tens of thousands of people have suffered financial and emotional losses since the quake hit Catholic-majority Flores earlier this month.

The death toll has risen to 91, with 1286 people injured and 161,084 remaining in evacuation centres as of August 24, according to official reports.

Caritas Indonesia said it has been reaching affected communities in four Church jurisdictions in Flores – Ende, Maumere, Ruteng and Labuan Bajo – all hit hard by the quake.

Caritas spokesperson Antonius Sugiyanto said the agency has opened a national logistics post in Surabaya, the nation’s second-largest city, in East Java province.

The post is collecting and consolidating relief goods from Java and surrounding areas before sending them by sea to ports in Flores, including Labuan Bajo, Reo and Maumere, he said.

“Clean water has become one of the main concerns in crowded evacuation areas. The Surabaya post is facilitating the procurement of 100 water tanks, each with a capacity of 1200 litres, which were scheduled to be shipped on August 24, while additional tanks were ordered from Ruteng and Maumere,” he said.

Besides running on-the-field medical teams, the agency has delivered emergency medical supplies of 180 kilograms of medicines and equipment for displaced families, he added.

Local volunteers have also been helping deliver aid to survivors, particularly in areas where residents set up their own evacuation posts in house fronts and other open spaces.

Indonesian Catholic Bishops’ Conference president Archbishop Antonius Subianto Bunjamin of Bandung said the Catholic Church invites and encourages all Church institutions to collaborate with Caritas for relief and rehabilitation.

“This disaster has brought down physical buildings, but we believe it will never bring down our spirit of togetherness and the firmness of our faith,” he said.

FULL STORY

Catholic groups reach out to Indonesia quake survivors (UCA News)