More aid pours in for tsunami victims

More aid pours in for tsunami victims

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Twenty days into the deadly tsunami disaster relief effort,
several countries are still sending cash, food, medicine and
medical teams to Indonesia, which suffered the most from the Dec.
26 calamity.

The Netherlands has pledged an additional US$260 million aid
for the reconstruction of the tsunami-battered areas in Indonesia
and Sri Lanka, the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Jakarta said.

"Earlier, we gave 40 million euros ($52 million) as military
assistance. Dutch citizens raised 122 million euros ($158
million) through private donations for the tsunami victims. With
this additional money, the total Dutch contribution to tsunami-
affected states reaches $470 million," the Embassy said in a
press release sent to The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Romania has also joined the world community to help the
victims in Indonesia by donating around $150,000 in cash and
$325,000 worth of food, medicine, equipment and drinking water.

"Today, the Romanian government handed over a plane-load of
food, water and medicine to North Sumatra's deputy governor
Rudolf Pardede to distribute to the tsunami victims in Aceh and
North Sumatra," Romanian Ambassador to Indonesia Gheorghe
Savuica, who handed over the assistance, told the Post from
Medan.

The Cuban Embassy in Jakarta said on Friday that its
government had dispatched an airplane carrying a 23-member
medical team and 9 tons of medicine and other medical and
sanitation equipment.

The embassy didn't say when the plane would arrive in
Indonesia.