ASSISTANCE FOR WEST JAVA QUAKE VICTIMS FLOWING

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Sept 3 (ANTARA) - Relief aid has begun to flow for the victims of Wednesday's 7.3 magnitude earthquake which rocked several parts of Java and killed at least 57 people up to Thursday and prompting over 5,000 others to evacuate to emergency tents.

        "The Ministry of Health has sent medicines, three tons of baby milk, electric generators, 75 body sacks and operational funds amounting to Rp150 million to help the disaster victims," Rustam S Pakaya, head of the Health Ministry's Crisis Management Center (PPK), said here on Thursday.

        Rustam said that the earthquake whose epicenter was about 30 km below the sea level had also injured at least 500 people (over 100 seriously injured).

        The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) began sending assistance on Thursday to the victims of Wednesday's quake which took place about 142 km southwest of West Java's Tasikmalaya district and rocked several other Java towns, destroying at least 11,000 building structures.

        The 7.3 magnitude earthquake whose epicenter located at 8.24 degrees southern latitude, and 107.32 degrees eastern longitude near Tasikmalaya in West Java was also felt as far away as Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, and the resort island of Bali.

        According to Tia Kurniawan of PMI's Natural Disaster Information Division, the red cross had sent 1,000 packets of tents, 2,000 tarpaulins, 4,000 blankets and 4,000 mats for West Java areas.

        The various affected regions in the West Java which would receive the assistance included the districts of Ciamis, Cianjur, Bandung, Garut, Tasikmalaya, Bogor, Sukabumi, dan Purwakarta.

        For the Central Java regions, the PMI sent assistance in the form of 500 family tents, 1,000 tarpaulins, 1,000 blankets, 1,000 mats and 1,000 pieces of cleanliness equipment.

        Tia said that the assistance was sent through land and air transportation.

        In the meantime, Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah said his ministry has prepared logistics assistance to be dispatched to the victims. "Logistics assistance for the quake victims has been prepared and is ready for distribution," Bachtiar Chamsyah said.

        But he added that data on material damage and the number of victims should be collected before distributing the assistance.

        "We have to inspect the real conditions in the quake-affected areas before we distribute the logistics assistance to the victims," the minister said.

        The minister and his entourage visited the areas of Cisayong and Cigalontang which were hardly hit by the 7.3 magnitude earthquake on Wednesday afternoon.

        The National Alms Agency (BAZNAS) meanwhile has allocated a fund amounting to Rp1 billion to help alleviate the burden of the quake victims in Tasikmalaya and various other regions which were affected by the earthquake on Wednesday.

        General Chairman of BAZNAS Prof. Didin Hafidhuddin said for the first phase his side would allocate Rp1 billion which would be provided in cash, in procurement of medicines and in food assistance.

        Hafidhuddin said that the assistance was provided as part of his organization's care for the victims of the earthquake which hit the Indonesian people. "With the program, we call on the Muslims in the country to work hand-in-hand in gathering assistance for their brothers who were suffering from a disaster," he said.

        "Good willing, the fund for assistance to the victims would be bigger in the second phase. We hope the number of Muslims who care for the victims would increase," he said.

        Meanwhile, Tasikmalaya district administration has distributed at least five tons of rice and other logistic necessaries to the quake victims at 39 sub-districts.

        Likewise, in Sukabumi, the district administration will provide financial assistance amounting to Rp2 million for each seriously damaged house and Rp1 million for each slightly damaged house. It has also provided 100 tons of rice to be distributed to the earthquake's victims.

        President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday morning left the capital for Cianjur to observe conditions in one of the regions in West Java worst hit by Wednesday's earthquake.

        The head of state and First Lady Ani Yudhoyono left their private residence in Puri Cikeas in the company of Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari, and Home Affairs Minister Mardiyanto.

        Before proceeding to the earthquake-hit region, the President held a coordinating meeting on handling the earthquake's aftermath with West Java regional authorities at the presidential palace in Cipanas.

        It was reported from New York that the United Nations through its various bodies was preparing itself to take part in an emergency response mission for the earthquake victims in West Java.

        According to the UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday local time, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported that a team of inter-UN bodies would soon carry out an assessment on the situation of the quake in Indonesia.

        To be led by Indonesia, the team will carry out the assessment supported by many UN bodies. They will begin working on Thursday, September 3, 2009 to decide a priority scale on the victims' need in the affected areas.

        The UN bodies that would be involved included the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the World Food Program, OCHA, the World Bank, UN Safety and Security institutions, and the UNICEF.***3*** (T.A014/H-NG/H-YH) (T.A014/A/A014/A/H-YH) 03-09-2009 22:10:53