On January 15, a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck West Sulawesi province, northeast of the city of Majene. 

The city reported heavy damage to structures including the Mitra Manakarra Hospital, which collapsed, and several health care centers.

Ikatan Motor Sport Indonesia and its Member Clubs responded to the emergency by launching a social responsibility programme and providing assistance to the victims of the disaster.

“Many efforts were made to evacuate the victims of the earthquake”, said IMI newly appointed President Mr Mr. Bambang Soesatyo.

“A lot of people were successfully evacuated; 46 people died and 826 peoples were injured; also, 415 houses were destroyed by the disaster and a number of vehicles, both motorcycles and cars, spoiled.”

In addition to the earthquake, floods have hit South Kalimantan since 25 January, with 113,420 residents being displaced and 628 schools, 609 worship places, 75 bridges, 99,258 houses and 46.235 hectares of rice fields affected; the area inundated by the flood was around 164,090 hectares.

“Social responsibility is of paramount importance for our organisation, especially when facing major crisis situations, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, and natural disasters. IMI has always empathised for tragedies and disasters occurred in Indonesia”, concludes Mr. Soesatyo.

“We will continue to help local communities to recover from the disaster and we hope that our contribution to society could be a source of motivation for other member organisations.”