Red Cross field hospital for earthquake victims
14 June 2000

A 150-bed field hospital, equipped with two operating theatres, x-ray, laboratory, surgical equipment, medicines and medical supplies, is on its way to Indonesia, following the massive earthquake that devastated Bengkulu province in western Sumatra on 4 June. The 32-tonne Emergency Response Unit (ERU) has been purchased through the Norwegian Red Cross with funds from a preliminary appeal for 5.3 million Swiss francs launched, in response to a call by the Indonesian government for aid, by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Geneva on 6 June .

The ERU will be used to treat seriously injured patients from the main hospital in Bengkulu, which was seriously damaged in the earthquake. Currently, the injured are being cared for in very difficult conditions in the open air by the hospital's 160 nurses and 20 doctors; they will continue to care for the patients when the ERU is operational. The field hospital will also serve the needs of 1.5 million people living in Bengkulu province, thousands of whom were affected by the earthquake.

The ERU will be transported to Jakarta by cargo plane from Frankfurt on 14 June, arriving at the international Sukarno-Hatta airport in late afternoon, local time. The 670 boxes containing the hospital tents, equipment, generator, medicines and supplies will be unloaded onto two Indonesian cargo planes for onward transport to Bengkulu in eight rotations. On board will be five Norwegian technicians who will oversee the initial construction and maintenance of the tented hospital, as well as a Norwegian surgeon, anaesthetist and operating theatre nurse.

The chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross Society, (Palang Merah Indonesia - PMI), Mr Mar'ie Muhammad, will also be on board the first flight to Bengkulu. Two other PMI Jakarta-based staff, a logistician and a medical doctor, will travel to Bengkulu today, 14 June, to prepare for the ERU's arrival with local PMI chapter and branch staff and volunteers. An experienced PMI administrator will be seconded to the project from Jakarta, and other staff members will be trained in the technical aspects of the unit's construction.

The ERU will remain operational for six months, while Bengkulu's public hospital is being rebuilt. It will then be dismantled, re-packed and returned to Jakarta where it will remain available for use in future disasters in the region. In this way, what is being implemented as a response to a major catastrophe, will also be a disaster preparedness initiative for future emergencies.

For further information please contact:

Federation :
Jessica Barry, Information Delegate, Jakarta, Indonesia,
Lasse Noorgaard, Information Delegate, Jakarta Indonesia
Tel + 41 79 217 33 76
Media Service, Geneva Tel + 41 22 730 42 96

Indonesian Red Cross Society, (Palang Merah Indonesia) :
Marlina Suriawan Tel +6221 799 2325

The Federation, National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross together constitute the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.