Australian rice aid

JAKARTA (JP): The Australian embassy announced on Wednesday that the first of five Australian rice shipments has arrived in Surabaya, East Java, as part of its humanitarian assistance package to Indonesia.

The embassy said that 12,300 metric tons of Australian rice would be shipped to Indonesia between now and the end of February. The A$7 million (US$4.43 million) aid package is part of Australia's contribution to the World Food Program (WFP), which is helping victims of droughts and the economic crisis in the country.

The rice donation is Australia's third major food aid effort in Indonesia. The first was a food package airlifted to Irian Jaya and the second was in August when Australian wheat worth A$16 million was swapped for rice as part of the WFP emergency assistance operations.

The embassy said that Australia, through the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), has responded to Indonesia's problems caused by drought and economic turmoil with more than A$60 million in emergency aid. (gis)