Special report: Strong Earthquake Jolts SW China    

    JAKARTA, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia is to send a medical team and some material aid to China later this week, Director of the Crisis Center of the Health Ministry Rustam Pakaya said here Monday.

    A 102 people-strong medical team comprising 20 specialist doctors, eight doctors, 12 nurses, some other health workers, and a number of volunteers from the military, the police and rescue teams will take part in the humanitarian mission, said Pakaya.

    The medical team will leave for China on Sunday, Pakaya told reporters after a launching ceremony of the humanitarian assistance to China at the Health Ministry.

    "We are now processing their immigration procedure. We expect them to leave on Sunday," he said.

    A senior official of the ministry Rahmi Utoro said Indonesia would also send five tons of medicine and five tons of logistics to China on Wednesday.

    Indonesia has been frequently hit by natural disasters in recent years, such as the tsunami in Aceh province of Sumatra Island in December 2004 and the earthquake in Yogyakarta region in2006, which killed hundreds of thousands of lives.

    Last Saturday, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asked to prepare assistance to China, according to the director.