ITALY SENDING 4 PLANE-LOADS OF AID TO W SUMATRA

Jakarta, Oct 16 (ANTARA) - The Italian government is sending four airplanes carrying aid packages to help quake victims in West Sumatra and they are expected to land in Padang on October 17-20, 2009.

According to a press release received here on Friday, the first plane is scheduled to arrive in West Sumatra's capital city, Padang, on October 17 at 17.30 local time. All planes will bring assistance from the Italian government worth US$ 459,159.

The aid would include 4,950 blankets, 50 tents for cold climate, 20 multipurpose tents, 972 kitchen sets, two collapsible water tanks which can hold 7,500 liters of water and 33 diesel generators.

Other packages carried by the four planes would among other things contain one water purifier, three Calcium Hypochlorite mixers, and three collapsible water tanks to hold 1,000, 3,500 and 7,500 liters of water respectively.

Italy which was also hit by an earthquake last April 2009 in the region of Abruzzo, feels even stronger solidarity with Indonesia and will continue to assist the people in West Sumatra with volunteers from Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and personnel of the Italian Red Cross.

West Sumatra was hit by an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale last September 30. The temblor had its epicenter in 78 km northwest of Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province, at a depth of 71 km in the seabed.

Up till now, the West Sumatra earthquake has taken more than 1,000 lives, and left hundreds of people injured, and crushed 283,067 houses.
According to data from West Sumatra Natural Disaster Mitigation Agency (Satkorlak PB), the province's material losses by the quake might total up to Rp 2.1 trillion