IOM PROVIDES 20 TRUCKS TO DISTRIBUTE RELIEF AID

Padang, West Sumatra Province, Oct. 7 (ANTARA) - The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has provided 20 trucks to distribute relief aid to victims of the magnitude-7.6 earthquake which devastated West Sumatra last September 30, 2009.

"We have helped provide 20 trucks and five pick-up cars which are ready to distribute relief aid to earthquake victims," Konrad Clos, chief of a IOM team , said here on Wednesday.

The IOM had also prepared transportation for aid from the United States and Australia, he said.

The IOM team has been in Padang since Thursday (Oct. 1), a day after the earthquake, and will stay in Padang as long as it is needed, according to Clos.

"We will remain here as long as we are needed," he said.

The IOM had previously also assisted Indonesia when Aceh was devastated by a magnitude-8.9 temblor and subsequent tsunami in December 2004, Yogyakarta was rocked by a powerful earthquake in 2006, and West Java was hit by a strong temblor in 2007.

Some 688 foreign medical and rescue team members with 67 sniffer dogs are now also in West Sumatra to help the victims.

They come among other things from France, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Britain, Hungary, Russia, Canada, Norway, Malaysia, Turkey, Singapore, Australia, Thailand, and Qatar.

Up to Wednesday morning, one week after the devastating earthquake struck Padang city and surroundings, West Sumatra Province, the death toll reached 704.

Data of the Disaster Mitigation Coordination Unit (Satkorlak) of the West Sumatra governor's office on Wednesday indicated that the number of dead victims in Padang city had reached 328, followed by Padang Pariaman district 292, and Pariaman city 37.

In addition, some 295 victims remained missing, 746 seriously wounded, and 1,344 slightly injured.

In Padang city alone, 54 schools were seriously damaged, 377 moderately damaged, and 351 slightly damaged.

Besides, a total of 608 houses of worship were destroyed or practically flattened, 248 others seriously damaged and 146 were lightly affected, the West Sumatra Disaster Mitigation Task Force said.