HMAS Kanimbla sent in aid effort

The Australian ^ | December 30, 2004

[Dundee]

HMAS Kanimbla sent in aid effort

AUSTRALIA is sending a warship loaded with helicopters and engineers to Indonesia to help with reconstruction efforts and has offered Jakarta a 90-bed field hospital to treat disaster victims.

Prime Minister John Howard said today the HMAS Kanimbla, which can carry up to four helicopters and has advanced medical capability, would depart Sydney to Indonesia via Darwin for what he believed would be a lengthy deployment in the disaster zone.

Mr Howard said an Antonov aircraft loaded with three Iroquois helicopters would also arrive in Indonesia on Monday.

“There is a desperate need for uplift capacity and helicopters are badly needed,” he said.

Five Australian aircraft and one from New Zealand are already ferrying supplies into the Indonesian province of Aceh, the worst hit area.

Mr Howard said a fully-equipped military hospital was also being made available to Indonesian authorities.

He said four Australian medical teams were making their way to disaster zones around the region, two heading for Aceh and one each to the Maldives and Sri Lanka.

An Australian medical assessment team was already on the ground in Thailand's Phuket, he said.

In addition, Mr Howard said Australia was considering sending refrigeration units to affected areas to prevent bodies decomposing before victim identification experts could carry out their work.

Australia has already tripled its aid contribution to $35 million and Mr Howard said the figure would rise significantly.

Howard said he had no new figures on the number of Australians killed in the disaster, which stands at 10 confirmed dead and some 5000 unaccounted for.

He said the large number of people unaccounted for meant the Australian death could rise.

[Dundee]

Howard said he had no new figures on the number of Australians killed in the disaster, which stands at 10 confirmed dead and some 5000 unaccounted for.

Please dear Lord, let them be safe. This is the equivalent of (in terms of relative population) having 75,000 missing Americans.

[Levante]

I, too, hope and pray for their safety!

Picture of HMAS Kanimbla:

http://www.navy.gov.au/gallery/ships/lpa20010208-1.html

[OldFriend]

Many Australians were the victims in the Bali bombing, and now this disaster. Very sad and deserving of our prayers and thanks to this great ally of America.