PMI teams gear up for disaster

JAKARTA: The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) is preparing 50 teams to help victims of natural disasters, chairman Mar'ie Muhammad said on Friday.

The teams, called Satgana, will be dispatched to 50 disaster- prone regencies and municipalities now that the rainy season has come, Mar'ie said.

Each team consists of 50 trained volunteers, amd will be equipped with ambulances and blood transfusion facilities provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Mar'ie, however, said people should not entirely rely on PMI in the event of a disaster.

PMI has called on 130 regencies and municipalities across the country to brace themselves up for floods and landslides.

The Meteorological and Geophysics Agency (BMG) recently predicted that heavy rains and strong winds would hit many parts of Indonesia from December to January.

Mar'ie said PMI had received assistance from private oil company PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia, worth Rp 300 million (US$35,294) in the form of 600 life jackets, five blood transfusion devices and two digital cameras. -- Antara