Swiss step up aid for Java quake victims

Emergency teams search for victims of Saturday's quake Keystone

As aid efforts gather pace, Switzerland has increased its support for survivors of the Indonesian earthquake that killed more than 5,800 and injured over 20,000.

The government is increasing the size of its emergency team in the affected central region around Yogyakarta. Swiss Solidarity, the fundraising arm of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, has also launched a public appeal.

The United Nations warned on Monday that the task of helping survivors was “enormous” and a “race against the clock”. The relief operation is being made more difficult by driving rain, poor road conditions and damage to infrastructure.

An estimated 200,000 people were left homeless and the number of injured people has overwhelmed medical infrastructure in the affected region.

“According to our two experts on the spot, the situation is very serious,” Jean-Philippe Jutzi, spokesman for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) told swissinfo. “But from day one the Indonesian authorities have managed things well. Owing to the frequency of disasters in the region they are well prepared.”

The SDC plans to send three additional staff – a coordinator and two logistical experts – to support its two water and reconstruction experts. Bern has already given $100,000 (SFr122,000) for the emergency response.

“They will be able to help with the coordination, purchase and delivery of emergency supplies such as tarpaulins, jerry cans, kitchen sets, clothing and medicines,” said Jutzi.

As there are urgent medical needs, the SDC also intends to collaborate with the Swiss Red Cross to transfer part of its medical stock from Banda Aceh.

So far more than SFr600,000 has been pledged to the earthquake response by Bern and other Swiss aid organisations – Caritas, Protestant charity Swiss Interchurch Aid and the Swiss Red Cross.

Solidarity

On Monday Swiss Solidarity launched a national fundraising campaign for earthquake victims. On Wednesday it announced that SFr1 million was being made available, following the SFr100,000 it has already given.

Swiss Solidarity’s partners on the ground, Caritas, Swiss Interchurch Aid and the Swiss Red Cross, will ensure aid from the neighbouring island of Sumatra, where post-tsunami work is being carried out.

The same Swiss organisations have also sent disaster experts to the region and are starting to distribute medicines, hygiene materials and tents.

“There is a need for drinking water, food, medicines and tents, to protect people from the heavy rains,” according to Caritas emergency coordinator Meili Riosa.

Many thousands of survivors who were injured or whose homes were destroyed have spent several rainy nights in the open, in makeshift houses or in their ruined homes.

Medical services are overstretched. Hospitals are overcrowded and many injured people have been treated outdoors. The main hospital in Bantul, south of the city of Yogyakarta has been destroyed.

Some 22 countries have contributed or pledged assistance to the southeast Asian country, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The UN and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies met in Geneva on Monday to coordinate the relief effort and establish priorities.

swissinfo, Simon Bradley

In brief

The official deathtoll of the 6.3 magnitude earthquake is over 5,800.

The tremor, which devastated the densely populated region around the ancient city of Yogyakarta in central Indonesia, struck early in the morning while people were sleeping. Up to 35,000 homes and buildings in and around Yogyakarta were reduced to rubble.

At least 20,000 people have been injured, 200,000 people have been left homeless, said officials.

The quake is said to be the country’s worst disaster since the 2004 tsunami.

Yogyakarta is near the Mount Merapi volcano, which threatened to erupt earlier this month, forcing thousands of people to be evacuated.

Key facts

October 8, 2005: 7.6 magnitude quake in Pakistan and India Kashmir region leaves at least 75,000 dead.
March 28, 2005: Tremor on the island of Nias, Indonesia, kills 905 people.
December 26, 2004: Quake near Sumatra causes a tsunami that hits a dozen countries in southeastern Asia. 220,000 dead or missing.
December 26, 2003: Quake in Bam, Iran, leaves 31,000 dead.

Donations

Swiss Solidarity, the fundraising arm of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (swissinfo’s parent company) has launched an appeal to raise money for earthquake victims.

It announced on Monday that SFr100,000 was being made available immediately.

Donations can be sent to post office account: 10-15000-6, marked “Java”, or made online (see link below).