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MERCY Malaysia Sends Second Mission To Mukomuko |
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Wednesday, 26 September 2007 |
KUALA LUMPUR, 26 September 2007 – The Malaysian Medical Relief Society (MERCY Malaysia) is deploying a six-member team in its second mission to Bengkulu, Indonesia to oversee the distribution of its relief aid to the victims of the recent earthquake that rocked the west coast of Sumatera.
The team, led by Hafidzi Ahmad Bunian, is leaving for Padang tomorrow,
and would then travel by road to Mukomuko, Bengkulu, which is six
hours’ drive away. They will be distributing personal hygiene items and
mosquito nets to displaced residents from 20 villages (in Kecamatan
Lubuk Pinang), Kabupaten Mukomuko in north Bengkulu. They will be in
Mukomuko until 5 October 2007.
“MERCY Malaysia has allocated RM150,000 for immediate use during this
emergency phase. Based on our assessment, even though the affected
communities have received other assistance from the Government and
various organisations, they are still in need of personal hygiene items
and mosquito nets. By providing what is lacking, we hope to minimize
the risk of water and blood borne diseases due to poor sanitation
condition at the moment,” said Datuk Dr Jemilah Mahmood, President of
MERCY Malaysia.
MERCY was the first non-governmental organisation (NGO) to arrive and
distributed aid to the quake victims in Kabupaten Mukomuko. It sent the
first team to assess the extent of damage as soon as the first
earthquake happened and immediately handed over RM50,000 worth of
personal hygiene sets comprising a pail, a bath towel, toiletries,
undergarments and female sanitary napkins to six villages in Kecamatan
Lubuk Pinang.
Mukomuko is the worst hit district in Bengkulu, with Kecamatan Lubuk
Pinang recording the highest number of displaced victims and damaged
buildings.
“Even though the casualty rate was low in relation to the magnitude of
the earthquake, the extent of damage in Mukomuko and Bengkulu in
general is quite severe. MERCY Malaysia is sending a third mission
comprising a three-member technical team to further assess the
condition of health facilities infrastructure in the province,” said Dr
Jemilah.
In particular, the technical team will evaluate the condition of the
Bengkulu General Hospital (Rumah Sakit Umum Bengkulu), Argo Makmur
Hospital (Rumah Sakit Argo Makmur), M Yunus Hospital (Rumah Sakit M
Yunus) and a number of community health centres or Puskesmas.
“We hope we would be able to further help the people of Bengkulu and in
doing so, we need contribution from the public. We prefer cash donation
as the money can be used to purchase the supplies in Indonesia itself
that would help their economy going,” she said.
Donation can be made by cheque payable to “MERCY Humanitarian Fund”,
and sent to MERCY Malaysia at No 45B Jalan Mamanda 9, Ampang Point,
68000 Ampang, Selangor. Alternatively, donation by cash can be
deposited into MERCY Malaysia’s Maybank account number 5621-7950-4126.
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