Qtel (Qatar Telecom) Group has announced a donation of $200,000 to help flood victims in Indonesia, as part of the relief efforts by Qtel Group and its Indonesian operator Indosat.

After several days of heavy flooding in Indonesia’s capital of Jakarta earlier last week, more than 20,000 people were evacuated and the Jakarta Government declared a state of emergency until January 27.

Qtel Group’s donation to people in Jakarta was presented at the direction of Qtel Group chairman Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al Thani.

The donation goes to a number of agencies providing relief efforts, including the Jakarta Government, Red Cross Indonesia, PKPU, and the Dompet Dhuafa Foundation.

Qtel Group representative Nicholas Swierzy and Indosat president director and CEO Alexander Rusli presented the donation to flood victims in the Kapuk Muara neighbourhood in North Jakarta. In the sprawling Jakarta metropolis, Kapuk Muara is one of the worst-affected areas, as nearly 700 people have been staying in a shelter for the past week.

Caused by unusually strong monsoon rains, the flood waters have inundated the city’s central business district, closed schools and offices, and affected about 95,000 people in different areas of the city.

During the flooding, Indosat was the country’s first mobile operator to offer customers free local minutes, SMS and Internet access to help family members stay in touch. For customers with a minimum or zero balance, Indosat gave them Rp 5000 ($0.51) to use for any combination of 10 minutes of voice calls, 20 SMS or 1 MB of data.

BlackBerry customers also received one free day of service, thanks to an Indosat partnership with RIM.  This was especially helpful for customers on daily packs who had exhausted their credit and could not recharge due to lack of access to shops.

Indosat also offered free, unlimited calls to Jakarta’s emergency, evacuation and flood response call centres to all customers – even those without credit. The company has also worked around-the-clock to ensure its mobile network has remained operational, despite power outages and affected offices.

Staff and their families stuck in their homes and businesses can call a special Indosat hotline to help them reach safety. In addition, Indosat has delivered water, food and clothing to call centre staff and employees who have remained in their offices during the flooding.

“During this challenging time for Indonesians, I hope that our donation will help improve the lives of people suffering from the floods, and demonstrate the strong bond of friendship that exists between our countries,” said Al Thani.

“Indosat is working very hard to maintain services and ensure that people have the security and support of a reliable mobile connection. Whenever there are difficulties, our customers know they can rely on Qtel Group companies,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service