UN: Quake aid 'race against time'
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-06-03 14:41
BANTUL, Indonesia (AFP) - The United Nations says it is in a race against
time to help survivors still struggling to get food, shelter and urgent medical
care one week after the Indonesian earthquake.
Indonesian search and rescue
members transfer a patient at an emergency hospital in Yogyakarta. The
United Nations says it is in a race against time to help survivors still
struggling to get food, shelter and urgent medical care one week after the
Indonesian earthquake. [AFP] |
Tens of thousands of homeless spent their seventh night out in the open,
huddling under makeshift tents of plastic sheeting or tarpaulins, while others
went into their second week awaiting treatment at overwhelmed hospitals.
UN officials said bottlenecks in getting aid to the needy had been mostly
resolved but after days of watching the death toll rise by hundreds, they said
the relief effort would be speeded up.
"We are redoubling efforts on all fronts, trying to race against time,
knowing the population could quickly go down to the level of hardship," Puji
Pujiono, the UN's deputy area humanitarian coordinator, told AFP.
"We are continuing to do what we can," he said. The United Nations said 100
million dollars was needed over the next six months to cope with the scale of
the devastation.
|
