Special report: Earthquake in Indonesia

 

Chinese medical team arrive at the Adi Sucipto Airport in Indonesia's Central Java town of Solo, some 60 km north of Yogyakarta province on May 30, 2006. Aside from the medical support, the team would work with local authorities to conduct investigation into the Saturday's 6.2-magnitude tremor and assess potential danger of future quakes. (Xinhua Photo)

    SOLO, Indonesia, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese medical team arrived in Indonesia's quake-stricken Java island just after midnight Tuesday to join the international relief efforts after the devastating earthquake that struck the island Saturday.

    The plane carrying the 40-member team as well as 5 tons of medical supplies landed on Adi Sucipto Airport in the Central Java town of Solo, some 60 km north of Yogyakarta province, where the quake caused massive destruction and claimed thousands of lives.

    "We will depart to Bantul once our stuff members are completely unloaded. First we have to find the right place and then begin to work as soon as possible," Zhao Heping, deputy director of the China Earthquake Administration, told Xinhua upon the team's arrival.

    He referred to the southern town in Yogyakarta, which accounted for two-thirds of some 5,100 casualties in the disaster.

    For most of the team members, the Indonesian mission was their second after the relief mission in tsunami-hit Aceh province in December 2004.

    Aside from the medical support, the team will work with local authorities to conduct investigation into the Saturday's 6.2-magnitude tremor and assess potential danger of future quakes.

    "Our first job is to conduct medical treatment for the injured people. We are going to set up a field hospital and we hope it can function like a normal hospital," said Huang Jian Fa, deputy chief of the China International Search and Rescue Team.

    "If necessary we will give advice on the reconstruction in this area, because this is a relatively moderate earthquake but it costs significant damages so we have to identify the reasons for the big losses of lives and properties," he said. Enditem

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