TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Former Indonesian First Lady Dewi Soekarno donated 10 million yen (NT$2.02 million, US$62,000) during a visit to earthquake-hit Hualien County Saturday (June 29).

Soekarno, 84, was the fourth wife of late President Soekarno, who ruled Indonesia from independence in 1945 to 1967 and died in 1970. She was born in Japan as Nemoto Naoko and married the Indonesian leader in 1962.

She flew from Tokyo to Taiwan Saturday morning, and immediately traveled onward to Hualien to hand over the donation on behalf of the NGO Amitie Sans Frontieres, per CNA. She expressed gratitude for Taiwan’s aid after the Japanese victims of the March 11, 2011 earthquake, and praised the efforts of Taiwanese rescue teams in Hualien.

The magnitude 7.2 earthquake which hit the region on April 3 led to 18 deaths and two missing, while causing massive damage to the east coast county. The restoration of scenic areas at Taroko National Park will in some cases take seven years, according to officials.

Soekarno contrasted the fate of the survivors in Hualien with those of Japan’s Noto earthquake last January. In Japan, survivors still lived at a sports stadium in spaces only separated by cardboard, while those in Hualien had been provided with tents guaranteeing a higher level of privacy, she said.