Immediately after two disastrous earthquakes struck the southern coastline of West Sumatra, Indonesia, on 30 September and 1 October, the PMI chapter in Padang carried out essential rescue and relief activities for survivors and was soon joined by personnel from PMI headquarters in Jakarta. An ICRC delegate cooperated with the first response team in order to assist the PMI in its efforts to trace people who went missing in the affected areas following the earthquakes and reduce the suffering of families anxious for news of their relatives.

"By 2 October, PMI volunteers had already assessed the need, in the three major hospitals to which survivors were taken, to restore links between family members cut off from one another by the disaster," said Alfyiah, a PMI tracing coordinator working on a joint ICRC-Swedish Red Cross project. "They offered free satellite phone calls from the PMI district office to people looking for missing relatives in Padang and neighbouring villages. The volunteers were also in contact with the mortuary where dead bodies were transferred by the authorities for proper identification."

The PMI tracing team also assessed needs in the most remote areas of the region affected. The volunteers distributed small posters in village emergency centres indicating a helpline telephone number, and provided satellite phone service for the population. The ICRC sent a tracing specialist from its Geneva headquarters.

The ICRC stands ready to provide further support for the PMI's humanitarian work in behalf of those in need.