|
JAKARTA, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
has instructed Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari and Social Affairs Minister
Bakhtiar Chamsyah to go to Yogyakarta immediately to deliver relief aid and
coordinate help for victims of earthquake which hit the city and its environs on
Saturday morning.
"The President is deeply concerned and asked Yogyakarta Governor
Hamengkubuwono X to continuously report on quake's victims and damages to the
Head of State," a presidential spokesman Andi Malarangeng told the press at the
presidential office on Saturday.
Andi said that the President also ordered Indonesian Military (TNI) chief
Air Marshal Djoko Suyanto to send soldiers to the quake-hit cities to help
evacuate victims.
President Yudhoyono asked residents of Yogyakarta to remain calm amid
rumors on tsunami following the quake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale.
Yudhoyono has planned to visit the quake's victims in Yogyakarta on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie will
reportedly leave for Yogyakarta to visit the quake-hitareas later Saturday.
A spokesman of the ministry, Ida Restiawan, said that Aburizal Bakrie accompanied
by Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari and Home Affairs Minister
Muhammad Ma'ruf would leave for Yogyakarta by a plane from Halim Perdanakusuma
air base, East Jakarta.
The ministers would bring food and medicines to the region. They are
expected to land at Adi Sumarno airport in Solo, Central Java, as Adi Sucipto
airport in Yogyakarta is closed due to damages of the airport's facilities as
the impact of the quake.
In his interview with the Indonesian state radio RRI, Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan
Hamengkubuwono X put the death toll in Saturday's quake and its aftershocks
in Yogyakarta and surrounding areas in Central Java at about 250, while
thousands of others were injured.
Telecommunication network and electricity supply in Yogyakarta were cut off
due to the earthquake, which could be felt at the fifth level of Modified
Marcelli Intensity (MMI).
The quake's epicenter was located at 8.826 degrees south latitude and 110.23 degrees east longitude, at the depth of 33 kilometers below the sea level, about 37.6 kilometers of south of Yogyakarta. Enditem |