Brazil pledges US$100,000 for Indonesia quake victims

RIO DE JANEIRO – The Brazilian government will donate 100,000 U.S. dollars to a fund for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami which hit Indonesia last month.

The donation will be made through the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), which has been assisting the Indonesian government in coordinating logistics, it said.

The donation was announced during a meeting between Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Aloysio Nunes Ferreira and the ambassadors of countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

More than 2,000 were killed, 10,000 more seriously injured and 80,000 left homeless in the natural disaster in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, aid agencies are racing against time to get relief to survivors before the monsoon season sets in next month.

The U.N. refugee agency delivered 435 emergency tents Friday for distribution to families made homeless by the earthquake and tsunami. The agency says that will provide shelter to around 6,500 of the most vulnerable. It says more emergency tents, sleeping mats, mosquito nets and solar lamps will be delivered in the coming weeks.

At least 1,407 dead in Indonesia quake-tsunami disaster

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is providing 215 tons of relief items, including tents, tarpaulins, blankets and safe drinking water to the survivors. The Indonesian Red Cross will distribute the aid to 160,000 people affected by the disaster.

World Food Program staff is helping the Indonesian government expedite, manage, store and distribute to the survivors on Sulawesi the massive quantities of aid arriving at the airport of Balikpapan on the neighboring island of Borneo.