The Indonesian government has asked for medicines and supplies rather than staff to help the 20 000 people who have been injured—1500 seriously—as a result of the earthquake on the island of Java on Saturday.
Figure 1.
Credit: ED WRAY/AP/EMPICS
At least 5500 people are thought to have died as a result of the earthquake, which measured 6.3 in magnitude on the Richter scale. An additional 200 000 people have been made homeless in the worst hit area, the Bantul district, south of the city of Yogyakarta (pictured above). The World Health Organization says that most houses in the area have been destroyed.
WHO has sent vehicles loaded with medicines and communications equipment into the area, including emergency health kits containing drugs and medical supplies for 50 000 people for three months and surgical kits for 600 operations.
The Indonesian government is deploying more than 200 of the country's doctors and nurses to the affected area, to help injured people and relieve health staff who have been working around the clock since the disaster struck.