On September 28th 2018 Palu in Central Sulawesi was struck by tragedy. An earthquake with a 7.5 magnitude leveled and damaged over 70.000 houses, displaced thousands and caused the deaths of at least 2.100 people. Resorts all over Sulawesi pulled together to organize a Palu relief effort.
Immediately after the disaster, concerned messages and questions came pouring in. From “I heard about the earthquake, and are you ok?” to “Should we still book with you because we’re scared”. It sent a chill down our spines…
Palu is 600 kilometers away from us in a straight line, and it takes about 22 hours by car to get there from here in Manado. It goes without saying that we didn’t notice a thing when disaster struck so far away.
Organizing the relief effort
We felt helpless, though. So together with colleague resorts in the immediate area, we made a joint effort to help: we gathered money, bought supplies and had trucks deliver the goods to Hercules airplanes standing by at the Manado airport.
Now, two months later, it’s time to take inventory of our relief effort so far:
- Guests and friends donated close to EUR 5,791
- Thalassa staff donated a total of EUR 542
- Thalassa as a company added an addtional EUR 300
- Total donations: EUR 6,633
After our runs of supply goods, we still have EUR 844 left.
Partnering with Prince John
The Prince John Dive Resort over at Donggola (very near Palu) were lucky to come out of the earthquake pretty unscathed. They posted the following note on their Facebook page on September 29th:
Thank you everyone for all the good wishes. Everyone is alright here at Prince John and we are only slightly damaged!
Alex & Anna, Prince John Resort
A few days later Alex and Anna announced a Palu relief effort on their own Facebook page to help everyone in their immediate area. Therefore, we pitched in our remaining EUR 844, used to rebuild the homes of as many families as possible.
On behalf of the people of Donggola and Palu, we want to give our heartfelt thank all of those who have made a generous donation.
The Thalassa Team
