Published: 12 October 2009
The first of seven flights in a week-long series of emergency aid deliveries to the survivors of the West Sumatra earthquake took off from Kuala Lumpur today, October 12th, at 1:00pm, local time. The plane, packed with around 40 tonnes of tents, tarpaulins, blankets and shelter kits, landed in Padang an hour later and was offloaded by staff and volunteers from the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI).
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is scaling up its relief operation in Indonesia. This includes the launch of a series of emergency food distributions and the use of helicopters to shuttle food and shelter supplies to families living in isolated villages which have been cut off by landslides. The relief will be distributed by local Red Cross volunteers. Over the past week, Indonesian Red Cross medical teams travelling by helicopter have been the first teams to identify and reach these communities.
“The priority at the moment is to get the food to the people rather than have people leave their homes and come to towns in search of food,” explains Wayne Ulrich, head of the IFRC’s emergency operation in Padang.
The IFRC has also dispatched an early recovery team to Padang. Its role will be to launch a temporary shelter programme in the coming weeks that will involve distributions of tools and local building materials to people whose homes have been badly damaged.
The IFRC is also launching a revised preliminary appeal for the Philippines. After further assessments of the damage caused by floods and landslides in Manila and northern Luzon, the appeal has been increased to more than 6.8 million Swiss francs (6.65 million US dollars/ 4.51 million euro) to help Philippines National Red Cross assist 200,000 people for a year.
The Philippines has been struck by two typhoons during the past two weeks. Typhoon Ketsana flooded most of Manila and made tens of thousands homeless, many of whom remain in emergency shelters. The second - Typhoon Parma - hovered over Northern Luzon for a week, causing heavy rainfalls which led to landslides over the weekend killing more than 300 people.