Circular
25/2018
Barcelona, 25 October 2018
 
To the members of the World Council
To the Secretaries General
To the Vice-Presidents of United Cities and Local Governments
To the Chairs of UCLG Committees, Working Groups, Communities of Practice and Fora

For information: To the Presidency

International Call for Solidarity: Indonesia

 
Dear members,
 
Just after the deadly earthquake followed by a tsunami that hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Friday 28 September 2018, the regional section of UCLG ASPAC and the UCLG Working Group on the Territorial Prevention and Management of Crises, chaired by the City of Geneva, decided to launch an international call for solidarity to the local authorities of the World Organization.

There has been a great loss of life and significant destruction of housing and infrastructure. More than 200,000 people are homeless and in need.

In the near future, Indonesian municipalities will have to rebuild everything. Their most important challenge, in terms of an immediate and longer-term response, will be to (re)take control of the (post-)disaster situation, to ensure the provision of essential services.

As part of this call, all activities will be decided collectively and according to the needs that will be assessed by UCLG partners on the spot. It is important to pool our common resources to undertake a globally coordinated effort to help tsunami-affected cities for better and more resilient reconstruction.

Our action will consist of an international response to the crisis – UCLG's first tangible aid project for municipalities to municipalities in the face of a crisis. We must make an example of this to show that local authorities can be supported in rebuilding resilient institutions.

For now, the French association of local authorities has launched a call for solidarity among its members. The funds collected will be placed in a single dedicated fund. A steering committee composed of donors will be created to decide on the activities to be put in place.

All promoted activities will be implemented to help cities recover. We will put together all our efforts and convince other donors to join us. We want to rebuild a territory so that it is resilient. We want to give local authorities the ability to mitigate risks to protect their people by warning people in time and evacuating them more quickly to a safe place.

The UCLG Working Group and UCLG ASPAC have opened a specific account, which is at your disposal to facilitate fundraising. Members wishing to join this initiative should approach the Working Group directly.

For more information, or to take part in this initiative, please contact Mr. Simoné Giovetti, Head of International and European Mission at Cités Unies France (+33 1 53 41 41 81 87 / s.giovetti@cites-unies- france.org) or Mr. Helmi Abidin, Coordinator of Disaster Risk Reduction / Resilience at UCLG - ASPAC (+62 21 389 01 801 / drr.coordinator@uclg-aspac.org)

Sincerely,

The UCLG World Secretariat