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Emergency Medical Teams To Yogyakarta, Central Java |
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Friday, 26 May 2006 |
Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia was hit by a 6.2 magnitude
earthquake just before 6 am on Saturday, 27 May 2006 (2300 GMT on
Friday). MERCY Malaysia is deploying three (3) Emergency Medical Relief
teams to assist in relief efforts.
An earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale hit Yogyakarta, Central Java Indonesia, approximately 25 kilometres north of the Indian Ocean coast and 440 kilometres east of Jakarta early Saturday morning. Reuters Foundation reported, fatalities are mostly caused by head injuries and broken bones. Presently, officially 2, 711 people are confirmed dead and countless others are in need of immediate medical attention
MERCY Malaysia is deploying three (3) Emergency Medical Relief teams to Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia.
Datuk Dr. Jemilah Mahmood, President of MERCY Malaysia will be leading the first team into Yogyakarta accompanied by Saiful Nazri Programme Officer from MERCY Aceh Office, on Sunday, 28 May 2006 from Banda Aceh. They will be travelling by a special United Nations Humanitarian Air Services (UNHAS) flight from Banda Aceh along with other international organisations based in Aceh and two (2) tonnes of medical supplies contributed by the international agencies from Aceh. The first team will be securing ground logistics for the subsequent teams that will be coming in from Kuala Lumpur.
Heading MERCY Malaysia’s second Emergency Medical Relief team is Haji Norazam Abu Samah, Head of Operations Aceh-Nias. Team members include Senior Nurse and MERCY Malaysia’s Medical Coordinator Che Tah Hanafi and volunteers - Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr Shalimar Abdullah, Anaesthetist Dr Shahridan Mohd Fathil, Nurse Hafizza Ismail, Medical Assistant Baharuddin Roz and Major (R) Haji Abdul Rashid Mahmud, Security Coordinator.
The second team will depart from Kuala Lumpur to Yogyakarta on Sunday, 28 May 2006 to provide immediate medical relief to those affected by the earthquake.
On 30 May 2006, MERCY Malaysia’s second Surgical Team, led by Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr Heng Aik Cheng who is also MERCY Malaysia’s Senior Executive Committee Member and volunteer Paediatric surgeon Dr Lai Fui Boon, will be deployed to Yogyakarta to assist the first two teams in providing Emergency Medical Relief.
Datuk Dr Jemilah who is in Banda Aceh for the launching of several MERCY Malaysia Indian Ocean Tsunami’s rehabilitation and reconstruction projects commented, “Our assessment teams were in Yogyakarta recently to ensure preparedness for the Mt. Merapi volcanic eruption and were very pleased to see things in place, but this earthquake came as a big surprise. Existing hospitals are now damaged and we are back to setting up field units and chaos prevails once again. MERCY Malaysia is ready to deploy our experienced emergency medical teams as well as specialised doctors and equipment to deal with trauma”.
MERCY Malaysia’s is coordinating its deployments with United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) and Satuan Koordinasi Pelaksana Penanggulangan Bencana dan Penanganan Pengungsi (SATKORLAK PBP).
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