Rescuers head for quake-ravaged Sumatra

3 Oct 2009, 4:59 pm   -   Source: AFP
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Nations around the world have engaged in a large relief effort following the Sumatra quake (Getty Images)

Nations around the world have engaged in a large relief effort following the Sumatra quake (Getty Images)

Nations around the world have sent rescuers and relief supplies to the Sumatra quake zone but the UN said it needs an official request from Indonesia to release thousands of tonnes of food.

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Nations around the world have sent squads of rescuers and relief supplies to the Sumatra earthquake zone but the United Nations said it needs an official request from Indonesia to release thousands of tonnes of food already in the country.

With more than 1,100 people dead in Sumatra and ill-equipped rescuers struggling in rubble to find survivors and bodies, the Red Cross says many villages in the worst hit zone around the city of Padang have been wwiped out.

Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari appealed for international help in the rescue operation after the 7.6-magnitude quake on Wednesday and powerful aftershocks.

Tents, medical aid

The first of Australia's aid arrived on Friday, when a plane carrying Australian aid personnel and relief supplies touched down in the West Sumatran capital of Padang.

Supplies include medical kits, blankets and tents for the tens of thousands of Indonesians affected by the earthquake.

A 36-member urban search-and-rescue team and about 20 Australian Defence Force medics and engineers are expected to arrive in Padang on Saturday.

Australia has also provided $250,000 to Indonesian non-government organisation (NGO)  Muhammadiyah to support its
medical teams and humanitarian operations and $100,000 to the Indonesian Red Cross for its emergency response.

A Swiss team of about 120 rescue workers was in the zone by Friday with sniffer dogs to search through collapsed buildings.

Russia sending medics

The Russian government sent a plane with 35 doctors, dog handlers, psychologists and first aid supplies to Sumatra, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.

A second plane with a mobile hospital and more doctors was being prepared.

Twenty Estonian surgeons, nurses, anaesthetists and logistics experts left for Indonesia, Mart Haljaste, head of the rescue team told the Baltic News Service.

The Italian government said it would also send a plane with humanitarian supplies to the region.

Among other major donors: the European Union pledged  3 million euros ($A5 million), Germany $US3 million ($A3.45 million) in search-and-rescue resources and water purification plants, and Britain promised firefighters and rescue workers.

Obama 'deeply moved'

China offered $US500,000 ($A575,000), while Japan dispatched 60 rescue workers and 23 medics.

The United States pledged more than $US3.3 million ($A3.8 million) in aid and President Barack Obama said he was "deeply moved" by the disaster in the country where he spent his childhood.

Singapore pledged $US50,000 ($A57,500) of emergency supplies and sent 42 personnel. Norway pledged  2.4 million euros ($A4 million) and a Turkish Red Crescent team was in the quake area assessing needs, Turkey's foreign ministry said.

People in Need, a Czech foundation, said it had released about  20,000 ($A33,433) from emergency funds and was arranging a public collection.

But the main UN food agency said it was waiting for an official Indonesian request to release food already in warehouses in Indonesia.

"At the moment we haven't received the offical request from the government of Indonesia to assist but we are ready to assist and expect that that would come very shortly in an official manner," said Emilia Casella, spokeswoman in Geneva for the World Food Program.

The WFP has 3,000 tonnes of food, including 1,000 tonnes of high energy biscuits in warehouses throughout Indonesia, which could be used, the spokeswoman said.

The WFP is already sending heavy lifting equipment from Bandar Aceh to Padang to help with excavation efforts.

'Environs are bad in Padang'

The UN Children's Fund (Unicef) said it expected relief items -- jerry cans, hygiene kits, tents and water pumps -- for 50,000 families to arrive in the quake zone by Saturday.

"From the aerial assessments carried out yesterday, the feedback is, yes Padang city and environs are bad, but once you go outside into the surrounding rural areas, the situation is very seriously grave," said Christine South of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Society.

"There was talk of complete devastation of some villages, 100 per cent devastation, and 50 per cent in others, obviously huge damage to infrastructure," South, the federation's operations coordinator for Indonesia, told journalists.

 

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