A plane carrying a 44-member Chinese rescue team and five tons
of medical supplies landed after midnight Tuesday at Adi Sucipto
Airport in the central Java town of Solo where an earthquake has
killed more than 5,000 people and left tens of thousands
homeless.
?
The team, led by the China Seismological Bureau (CSB) deputy head
Zhao Heping, is composed of rescuers, doctors and seismologists,
according to a CSB statement.
?
A Chinese seismologist joined a five-member United Nations
delegation dispatched to evaluate the extent of the disaster. They
arrived in Indonesia prior to the rescue team's departure.
?
It is the fifth time China has sent rescue teams abroad to carry
out international humanitarian work since 2003. The first team was
sent after an earthquake in Algeria in May 2003.
?
Also on Monday the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) donated
US$50,000 to its Indonesian counterparts.
?
The Chinese government has offered US$2 million to Indonesia and is
considering providing more relief staff and materials.
?
Two embassy officials have been sent to assist any Chinese citizens
in the area but there have been no reports of Chinese casualties,
sources from the embassy in Jakarta said.
?
The earthquake measured 6.3 on the Richter Scale and the official
death toll so far has been put at 5,136. The tremor early on
Saturday was centered just off the Indian Ocean coast near
Yogyakarta which is the former royal capital of Java. This is
Indonesia's worst disaster since the 2004 tsunami.
?
Government figures stated that the number of injured was 2,155 but
the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) have said there were
20,000 injured and more than 130,000 homeless of which 40 percent
were children.
Hospital lists of the dead carry the names of many children and
older people who may have found it difficult to exit properties as
they collapsed. Deaths among these two age groups appear to be
disproportionately high among the victims.
?
The UNICEF said the first emergency airlift arrived early yesterday
bringing water tanks, tents and tarpaulins to Yogyakarta.
?
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs released
an emergency grant of US$50,000 for the second consecutive day to
help the victims but said much more was needed to send additional
food, medicine and other essential supplies.
?
Representatives of UN agencies as well as the international Red
Cross and other aid organizations were meeting to coordinate a
relief strategy before briefing donor governments on what types of
assistance were needed. An emergency appeal by the global body is
expected shortly.
?
The most urgent needs, according to UN officials actually on the
ground, are generators, tents, three 100-bed field hospitals and
medical supplies needed for treating broken limbs. Officials said
they hoped to meet these requirements within three days.
?
(China Daily May 30, 2006)