Gulf countries pledge relief aid to Indonesia quake victims

Over the past week, a number of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states have pledged millions of dollars worth of aid funding for victims of the 27 May earthquake in the Yogyakarta Province of Java, Indonesia. The UAE Red Crescent has earmarked US $4 million for quake relief funds, and is in the process of establishing a field hospital in the stricken area. It has also delivered emergency medical kits to aid 10,000 people for three months, as well as food items, water, blankets and tents. The UAE Red Crescent mission that arrived in Java on 31 May immediately spent UAE Dhrs 3 million (approximately US $820,000) at local markets to buy badly needed items. “There’s an urgency to speedily mobilise humanitarian assistance,” said UAE Red Crescent International Relations Officer Walid Ibrahim. “We don’t like to delay such endeavours because timely assistance is essential.” The Qatar Red Crescent, for its part, has delivered 1,700 body bags, 250 plastic tarpaulins [plastic used for emergency shelter], emergency health kits and medical equipment to local hospitals. Qatar has also participated in relief operations. “We’ve sent a search and rescue team in which doctors from the Hamad Medical Corporation, as well as the Qatari army medical services, have participated,” said Dr Khalid Diab, head of International Programmes at the Qatar Red Crescent. Diab added that a rescue team, facilitated by the Qatar Authority for Charitable Activities, was currently coordinating relief operations with Indonesian authorities. He went on to point out, however, that considerably more relief and medical equipment was still needed to meet the demands of quake victims. “ There is still need for 300,000 tarpaulins and a large amount of orthopedic surgical equipment,” he said. The Kuwaiti government, meanwhile, pledged US $4 million, of which approximately one quarter has so far been delivered to the Kuwait Red Crescent. Of this, some US $500,000 has already been dispatched to the Kuwaiti embassy in Jakarta for the local purchase of food and emergency items. The other US $500,000 has gone towards delivering some 40 tons of relief aid, including thousands of blankets, hundreds of tents, medicine and foodstuffs. As for Riyadh, it donated US $5 million to the Indonesian authorities, as well as numerous relief supplies, including tents, blankets and medicine. “To date, the Saudi Red Crescent (SRC) has sent five planes full of relief items, in addition to the US $5 million that was donated,” said SRC Acting President Dr Saleh al-Tuwaijri. GCC member states – whose central geographic location is an added advantage in providing rapid responses on the Asian continent and the Horn of Africa – have donated heavily to relief efforts following past humanitarian catastrophes. These included the December 2004 Tsunami that affected several Southeast Asian countries and the earthquake that rocked Pakistan in October 2005. SM/AR/AM