Aid agencies 'need more' to help quake victims

UN agencies, governments and aid organisations rushed emergency supplies to Indonesia today to lay the groundwork for a coordinated humanitarian response to this weekend’s deadly earthquake as the death toll hit 5,000.

The UN children’s fund said a first emergency airlift arrived early today, bringing water tanks, tents and tarpaulins to the ancient city of Yogyakarta, devastated by the magnitude-6.3 quake that hit central Indonesia’s densely populated Java island on Saturday.

Some 22 countries have now contributed or pledged assistance to the Asian country, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA. The humanitarian office said it has released an $100,000 (€78,464) in emergency funds to get the relief effort going, but said it will need much more to send additional food, medicine and other supplies.

"We have developed a response strategy,” OCHA spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said after representatives of UN agencies – as well as the international Red Cross and other aid organizations – met behind closed doors to coordinate a relief plan.

The UN later briefed donor governments on what types of funds and assistance are needed. An emergency appeal by the global body is expected later this week.

Indonesia’s government says the quake killed more than 5,000 people and left an estimated 200,000 people homeless, most of whom are now living in shacks close to their former homes or in shelters erected in rice fields. Hospitals have overflowed with injured survivors.

The earthquake is Indonesia’s worst disaster since the 2004 tsunami.

Officials said supplies were not being delivered fast enough to victims already reduced to begging. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono acknowledged a “lack of coordination” in aid distribution when he visited victims today.

The most urgent needs, according to UN officials on the ground in Indonesia, are generators, tents, three 100-bed field hospitals and medical supplies mostly for treating broken limbs. Officials said they hoped to meet these requirements within three days.

UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland has proposed boosting relief efforts with money from the UN’s central emergency relief fund, which stands at 178 million dollars, Byrs said. I

Countries across Asia and the world have pledged money, supplies and personnel.

The US military plans to send 100 doctors, nurses and medical technicians from a base in Okinawa to treat everything from trauma and broken bones to lesser injuries like bruises, US Pacific Command spokesman Lt. Col. Bill Bigelow said Sunday.

The US has allocated $2.5m (€2m) for assistance.

China offered $2m (€1.6m) and Japan pledged $10m (€7.8m) and said it is preparing to send land, air and naval troops.

France said it would send medicine, medical personnel and perhaps an emergency hospital and medical supplies.