The government of Indonesia is asking aid workers from other countries’ non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to go home, after a devastating earthquake that has killed over 2,000 people.
The magnitude 7.5 earthquake on Sept. 28 devastated the city of Palu and the region, and thousands of people are still unaccounted for and may be trapped under the rubble.
Countries from around the world, including Canada, have sent millions of dollars in aid and some organizations have also sent personnel to help.
Rescue workers searching for survivors must complete their work on Thursday. The government has set Thursday as a national deadline because it is concerned with the spread of disease.
“We’re not sure what will happen afterwards, so we’re trying to work as fast as possible,” rescue worker Ahmad Amin, 29, referring to the deadline, told Reuters he took a break in the badly hit Balaroa neighborhood.
WATCH: Indonesians criticize government for wanting to end search efforts soon as death toll rises to almost 2,000
More than 10,000 rescue workers are scouring fields of debris. But Tuesday, the government’s disaster agency, in a notice posted on Twitter, set the rules for foreign NGOs, saying they were not allowed to “go directly to the field” and could only work with “local partners.”
“Foreign citizens who are working with foreign NGOs are not allowed to conduct any activity on the sites,” it said, adding that foreign NGOs with people deployed should withdraw them immediately.
Foreign aid groups have said they encountered some difficulties getting entry permits to help, Australia’s ABC News reported.
The Australian government even received a letter saying health and medical services were not needed.
The news comes after the Indonesian government was criticized for not getting help to Palu quickly enough.
Indonesia has traditionally been reluctant to be seen as relying on outside help to cope with disasters, and the government shunned foreign aid this year when earthquakes struck the island of Lombok.
Jen Clancy at the Australian Council for International Development told the Guardian the response from Indonesia was normal.
“There’s pushback against the international community, which came flooding in days or weeks later, taking over the response,” she said, adding that the local NGOs all have “significant capacity.”
“Natural disasters aren’t a new phenomenon for Indonesia, unfortunately. … They are well experienced in responding to natural disasters.”
Others said the pushback was more political.
“There are political sensitivities, especially with an election coming up, and sovereignty is another issue,” said Keith Loveard told ABC News.
World Vision chief advocate Tim Costella called the decision “very odd,” even thought World Vision, as a charity and not an NGO, is exempt from the rules.