FAO programme officer Mohammad Reyza with Central Sulawesi government official identifies the damage in the marine and fishery facilities in Palu

Following the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck Palu, Central Sulawesi, on 28 September, FAO has been working to provide targeted, technical assistance in support of the government-led response. The disaster affected 1.5 million people, killing 2,077 people, seriously injuring over 4,400 people and displacing 211,000. Working with local partners, FAO is implementing immediate rehabilitation activities to help restore food production through the provision of agricultural inputs and assets to the worst affected farming and fishing families.

As a first step, FAO prepares an immediate response plan, following the disaster, a proposal for the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) was formulated and donor-funding totaling just under USD 1 million was approved by CERF.  With the government leading the response to the earthquake and tsunami, FAO Indonesia is in regular contact with the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture and the Directorate of Food and Agriculture, and is attending humanitarian country team meetings.

FAO and WFP supported the Directorate of Food and Agriculture of the Ministry of Development and Planning (BAPPENAS) in activating the Food security and livelihood cluster as a platform for coordination among the stakeholders from the government and other organizations.

Three months priority provide support for affected farming and fishery families 

The priority for the next three months is to provide support to 60,000 people and help affected farming and fishery families through the distribution of household vegetable seed packets, fertiliser and small hand tools. FAO also plans to support local fishers with small-scale fishing equipment to help restore their livelihoods damaged by the tsunami.

In the districts affected, many families were entirely dependent on agriculture and/or fisheries, and lost considerable assets. Failure to support resumption of local crop production and maintaining remaining livestock assets will aggravate food and nutrition insecurity at the household level and increase the dependency of farmers and fishers on external food aid.

The Government of Indonesia, in collaboration with the UN, the World Bank and Asia Development Bank will conduct a post disaster needs assessment and FAO will be providing technical support in preparing a comprehensive questionnaire on the agriculture sector. The assessment will help fill the current gaps on damage and loss related to food security and livelihood.

However, a preliminary assessment by the Ministry of Agriculture indicates that a total of 9,709 hectares of agricultural land has been damaged.