World sends condolences, offer help to quake-hit Indonesia
World sends condolences, offer help to quake-hit Indonesia
Agencies New Delhi/Canberra
Several countries across the globe sent their condolences on Tuesday to Indonesia and offered help after an earthquake hit its island of Nias and killed several hundreds of people.
Indian Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh conveyed his condolences to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the bereaved families in a special message on Tuesday.
Indonesia, a closest neighbor, offered US$2 million as aid to earthquake-hit Indonesia on Tuesday, the Indian Embassy informed The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
The small Indonesian island of Nias bore the brunt of an 8.7- magnitude undersea earthquake that struck late Monday, burying an unknown number of people beneath their homes as they collapsed. Death toll estimates ranged from 330 to around 2,000.
China's government on Tuesday said it would donate $500,000 in cash to Indonesia, while its Red Cross pledged $300,000 for the relief efforts in the quake-hit areas.
President Hu Jintao on Tuesday expressed his condolences, extending sincere sympathy to bereaved families in the region, said Xinhua.
Hu sent a telegram to Susilo Yudhoyono to express his support while Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing contacted his counterpart Hassan Wirayuda, foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.
Japan offered on Tuesday to send relief goods, paramedics and troops to Indonesia following a massive earthquake there, weeks after a historic Japanese military mission ended in the Southeast Asian nation.
"First, we must listen carefully to requests from local people. We must provide assistance in response to their needs. It is not good to be intrusive," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters.
Relief agencies in Britain reacted swiftly on Tuesday to the killer earthquake in Indonesia, but the travel industry doubted that the disaster would have much of an impact on tourism in Southeast Asia.
Oxfam International, active in the region following the devastating Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami, said it sent an assessment team to Nias island by helicopter from Banda Aceh to size up the scale of the disaster.
Singapore has dispatched military helicopters and a team of medical and rescue workers to the earthquake-hit Indonesian island of Nias, the government said on Tuesday.
The three Chinook helicopters will provide transport in and out of the affected area and carry out medical evacuation, while the team will assist local agencies with relief efforts, the defense ministry said in a statement.
Germany sent its condolences on Tuesday to Indonesia after an earthquake off its northwest coast killed hundreds of people.
"We feel for the Indonesian people in their shock and mourning," Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said in a telegram to his Indonesian counterpart Hassan.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Australia would provide a field hospital and air medical evacuation team to Indonesia. He said he might order a navy transport ship that had been en route back to Australia after helping in the tsunami relief effort in Aceh to turn around, and could send two military transport planes.
"It could involve some rerouting of HMAS Kanimbla which is on its way home having provisioned in Singapore and also we may have to supply two of the C-130s," Howard told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
He also pledged an additional 1 million Australian dollars (US$771,000) in disaster aid to Indonesia. Australia had already pledged A$1 billion (US$771 million) in grants and low-interest loans to Indonesia over five years following the Dec. 26 disaster.
The United States was preparing to provide assistance to South Asian countries after a magnitude-8.2 earthquake struck on Monday off the coast of Indonesia.
Senior U.S. officials for the region were in touch with the various embassies there to plan for a relief effort if it's necessary, U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said in Washington.
U.S. President George W. Bush was briefed on Monday's quake while aboard Air Force One preparing to return to Washington from Texas. U.S. embassies in the tsunami zone were put "in battle mode" so they could "act appropriately if and when it's necessary," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said.
New Zealand said it would pay to transport a team of doctors from a private aid group to Nias to help those injured in the earthquake.
"Our thoughts are with the people of Indonesia, particularly those living in its outlying islands who have borne the brunt of this devastating quake," Prime Minister Helen Clark said in a statement.
Sweden's government also rushed into action at news that another huge quake had struck the area, officials said on Tuesday.
"I would characterize our preparedness this time as extremely good ... All the relevant active (government) players met on Monday," foreign ministry spokeswoman Nina Ersman told AFP.