Push Admin

Dying of cancer, quake-hit Indonesia's disaster spokesman battles on

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/overseas/10/04/20181004-supoto-purwo-nugroho-afp.jpg?ext=.jpg"/><figcaption>This photo taken on October 2, 2018 shows Indonesia&#x27;s disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho (R) addressing the media during a press conference in Jakarta on the latest updates following the powerful earthquake and tsunami which hit Central Sulawesi. Goh Chai Hin, AFP</figcaption></figure></div>JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia&#x27;s disaster agency spokesman is fighting a daily battle to update the world 24/7 on the latest developments in a deadly quake-tsunami, despite his own impending date with death from terminal cancer.Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, known affectionately as Pak Topo (Mr Topo), is the face of the government&#x27;s communication efforts to get word out on the devastating crisis on Sulawesi island that has killed over 1,400 people.The 48-year-old refuses to pass the torch, dragging himself to daily press briefings, taking reporters&#x27; calls and communicating on social media at a frantic pace, even as he &quot;feels weaker every day&quot; from Stage IV lung cancer.&quot;I can&#x27;t lie about my physical condition --- the cancer has spread to other parts of my body and it&#x27;s weakened my body,&quot; he said in a heart-wrenching message to reporters on social media this week.&quot;I apologise if I cannot respond to every question from journalists, my friends. If I was healthy, I would surely do it no matter what.&quot;Pale and visibly thinner, Nugroho got the grim news in January that he was dying and might have as little as a year to live.Nugroho has reportedly promised his wife to slow down his work schedule but he is showing few signs of easing up in a job that has made him a household name in disaster-prone Indonesia.He managed to get out a 200-word update on a deadly landslide back in February from his hospital bed, local media reported.Then in August, he was sending out reports on a deadly quake disaster on Lombok island, next to Bali, minutes after finishing a chemotherapy session.Nugroho, who has a doctorate in natural resources and the environment, took the job eight years ago in a bid to combine his education with a love of writing, he told the Jakarta Post earlier this year.&quot;Doctors told me that with chemotherapy and radiation, I probably have one to three years left,&quot; he was quoted as saying.&quot;Illness or death is in God&#x27;s hands, but while I&#x27;m still alive I still want to do my best to serve others.&quot;<div>© Agence France-Presse</div>

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia's disaster agency spokesman is fighting a daily battle to update the world 24/7 on the latest developments in a deadly quake-tsunami, despite his own impending date with death from terminal cancer.

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia's disaster agency spokesman is fighting a daily battle to update the world 24/7 on the latest developments in a deadly quake-tsunami, despite his own impending date with death from terminal cancer.