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

JAKARTA: 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.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, known affectionately as Pak Topo (Mr Topo), is the face of the government´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´ calls and communicating on social media at a frantic pace, even as he "feels weaker every day" from Stage IV lung cancer.

"I can´t lie about my physical condition --- the cancer has spread to other parts of my body and it´s weakened my body," he said in a heart-wrenching message to reporters on social media this week.

"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."

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.

"Doctors told me that with chemotherapy and radiation, I probably have one to three years left," he was quoted as saying.

"Illness or death is in God´s hands, but while I´m still alive I still want to do my best to serve others."