U.S. navy hospital joins relief effort in Nias<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A U.S. navy hospital ship arrived off the coast of Nias island on
\nTuesday, joining a big international relief effort to provide
\nmedical help and food aid for hundreds of thousands of people
\naffected by the March 28 earthquake.<\/p>\n
Joining the USNS Niagara Falls, which dropped anchor on Monday
\noff Nias, the 1,000-bed USNS Mercy will provide aid both aboard
\nand ashore with a range of medical specialties, including trauma,
\nsurgical support, orthopedics, ob-gyn, pediatrics, dental
\ntreatment and laboratory facilities.<\/p>\n
All of those services, however, will not be immediately
\navailable, as the crew awaits the arrival of doctors and nurses
\nfrom the United States, expected later this week.<\/p>\n
\"The ship will initially have one operating room, which can be
\nused up to 12 hours per day as well as two intensive care units
\n(ICU). Once it picked up more staff on Sibolga, it would have
\nabout 175 extra medical personnel, five ICU beds, 45 regular beds
\nand three operating rooms. X-ray suites, laboratories and CAT-
\nscan equipment would also be operational when the extra crew
\narrives,\" Captain Rick Morrison, deputy surgeon for the U.S.
\nPacific Fleet, told AFP on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Medical help also came from the Russian mobile hospital, which
\nhas been in Nias since Friday, with 33 rescuers, doctors and
\nnurses along with two specially trained search dogs and medical
\nequipment.<\/p>\n
The medical team has provided assistance for around 48
\npatients, mostly with broken bones.<\/p>\n
\"We also provide one helicopter, as well as an airplane placed
\nat Polonia airport in Medan,\" head of the Russian team Vladimir
\nBoreiko said during a press conference on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
A Hungarian rescue team has also arrived, working together
\nwith rescuers from Australia, the Republic of Korea and Japan.<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, delivered some 500 baskets of food as
\nwell as three four-wheel drive ambulances and six motorbikes
\nhanded to the Indonesian Red Cross. Seventeen more ambulances
\nwere reportedly on the way.<\/p>\n
However, some reports said that foreign rescue teams were
\npreparing to leave after spending a week sifting through the
\ndebris of thousands of collapsed buildings.<\/p>\n
Boreiko said the Russian team would be in Nias for two weeks
\nunless the Indonesian government asked them to continue the
\nmission.<\/p>\n
An estimated 1,300 people were believed to have been killed
\nduring last week's quake, most of those on Nias, but fatalities
\nalso have been reported on neighboring Simeulue island and nearby
\nSingkil regency in Aceh.<\/p>\n
Gunung Sitoli town, the capital of Nias, was worst affected,
\nwith at least 600 bodies recovered according to police reports,
\nin addition there were more than 3,000 people injured and some
\n7,000 buildings, including hospitals, that were destroyed.<\/p>\n
Relief groups have taken around 430 seriously injured people
\nto hospitals on mainland Sumatra. A city health official in Medan
\ntold AFP that around 300 Nias residents were in intensive care
\nunits in 10 hospitals in Medan.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, UNICEF said some 15,000 families were homeless in
\nNias, with half of them living in houses of relatives and friends
\nand about 7,500 others were without shelter.<\/p>\n
Some people were unable to get home after being treated for
\ntheir injuries, such as Beil Mefu Wao, 17, who was taken by
\nhelicopter on Friday to a hospital with injuries to his head and
\nlimbs.<\/p>\n
However, after being released from the hospital, he had no way
\nto return home to Sorake village, some 140 kilometers southeast
\nof Gunung Sitoli.<\/p>\n
\"I do not know how I can get home,\" said Wao in tears, sitting
\nnear the hospital. \"I want to go home, I have been declared
\nhealthy, but I do not know how I can get home.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/us-navy-hospital-joins-relief-effort-in-nias-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}