Death toll in quake-hit Bengkulu rises to 85

JAKARTA (JP): The death toll in the powerful earthquake that shook Bengkulu on Sunday has reached 85, while more humanitarian aid has poured in from other provinces and foreign countries.

Iskandar Ramis, coordinator of the search and rescue team, said his team, along with the police and local people, unearthed on Wednesday 21 more corpses from the debris in North and South Bengkulu amid heavy rain.

"According to our data, 43 people were killed in the provincial capital of Bengkulu, 39 in South Bengkulu and three in North Bengkulu," he said as quoted by Antara.

He expects the toll to rise as his team has yet to receive reports from Rejang Lebong and the remote Enggano island, which is thought to be the province's area worst-hit area.

Confusion remains over the death toll from the disaster, with an independent count by local Semarak daily newspaper standing at 117.

The news agency also reported that two Netherlands royal warships and Indonesian warship KRI Nala left for Enggano on Wednesday to supply emergency assistance.

Ramis said the search and rescue effort would continue as numerous people whose houses collapsed in the disaster remained missing.

He added that 612 people injured were being treated at the compound of Muhammad Yunus General Hospital in Bengkulu city.

At least 7,300 permanent and semipermanent houses in the province's capital and four regencies were left in ruins.

State-owned Merpati Nusantara Airlines resumed flights to Bengkulu on Wednesday after days of closure following the strong temblor.

South Sumatra and Lampung, Bengkulu's neighboring provinces, and a number of non-governmental organizations have sent rescue teams and dispatched food and medical supply packages to the devastated territory.

Ramis, also South Sumatra deputy governor, said the Bengkulu provincial administration had set up a team to collect emergency aid and distribute it to victims.

"We will work hard to make sure the aid reaches the victims," he said.

Besides Singapore, Unites States and Japan have committed to joining the relief mission.

U.S. President Bill Clinton expressed sympathy for the Indonesian people on Tuesday and pledged to provide emergency aid. U.S. Ambassador Robert Gelbard said his government would provide US$25,000 in aid to the victims and that a team had been sent to Bengkulu to assess the situation and survivors' needs.

Shigeya Aoyama, spokesman for the Japanese Embassy, said in a media release that the Japanese government had sent a four-member advance team to Bengkulu and set up a 19-member medical team to help the injured.

He said the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) would also supply 100 tents, 100 ground sheets, 100 plastic mats, 100 sets of tools and 144 shovels, worth a total of 15 million yen.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare and Poverty Eradication Basri Hasanuddin announced on Wednesday that more relief supplies from other countries would be available.

"Countries like Turkey, China, Malaysia and South Africa have offered to help with supplies. Today, a medical team and drugs from the Indonesian Red Cross will be flying there on a military plane, while emergency support material from Japan will be sent," he said.

The plane, Basri said, will land in either Palembang in South Sumatra, Jambi or Padang in West Sumatra, from where the team will travel over land to the devastated area. (09/rms)