A$1m pledged to help blast victims
Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Australian government has pledged to provide medical equipment and assistance worth A$1 million to help the recovery of Bali bombing victims.
Of the $1 million donation, $250,000 would be in the form of medical assistance, including a Portable Image Intensifier, a device to locate shrapnel and metal particles in blast victims, from Princess Alexandra Hospital in South Brisbane, said a press statement on Wednesday from the Australian foreign ministry.
"The equipment is being flown from Brisbane to Bali and is due to arrive on Wednesday at around 7 p.m.," Elizabeth O'Neill, spokeswoman of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta told The Jakarta Post.
The statement said Australian was looking to source more equipment as well as to provide further essential medical supplies and specialists' medical advice to Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar and other treatment centers in Bali.
Another A$750,000 will be channeled to support local non- governmental organizations meet the needs of the injured and to provide financial support for families of the dead victims, it said.
The ministry added the funding would be channeled through AusAID, the Australian Agency for International Development.
"Prime Minister Howard and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono talked via phone on Sunday, just after the bombings. In that conversation, PM Howard expressed Australia's willingness to provide any kind of support that Indonesia may need," O'Neill said.
"This support is to show that Indonesia is our close friend and neighbor. When we see a partner in need we will help them."
The Australian government earlier sent a disaster identification team and several federal police officers to help the Indonesian police in investigating the Oct. 1 blasts, in which 22 people were killed and more than 100 others injured.
The Australian government also evacuated five wounded victims to hospitals in Singapore and 12 others to Darwin along with one Indonesian and two Japanese nationals.
O'Neill said the blasts killed at least two Australians, while two others are still missing.