Pope sends $100,000 for relief efforts in Indonesia

Vatican City, Oct 4: Pope Francis has sent $100,000 to help those affected by the powerful earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck Sulawesi Island in Indonesia last week, killing over 1,400 people and causing widespread destruction, a Vatican Ministry said on Thursday.

"This sum is intended to be an immediate expression of the feeling of spiritual closeness and fatherly encouragement from the Holy Father towards the people and territories affected," the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development said in a press release.

The donation "will be shared, in collaboration with the Apostolic Nunciature (a diplomatic position within the Vatican, equivalent to an embassy), among the areas most affected by the catastrophe," the statement added.

Indonesian authorities on Thursday raised the death toll in the twin disasters to 1,424 and the number of displaced to over 70,000.