RI offers US$1m for victims of Aussie fires

Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 02/12/2009 2:33 PM  

Indonesia pledged US$1 million in humanitarian relief Wednesday for Australia, after raging wildfires killed some 200 people in the country's Victoria state. 

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also sent a letter to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to express Indonesia's deep sympathy and share grief over the worst disaster to hit the country in many years. 

Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said Indonesian police would also deploy a forensic team. 

"Forensic experts from the National Police will help identify the bodies of fire victims. Indonesia has long had this kind of cooperation with Australia," Dino told reporters at the State Palace in Jakarta. 

However, he could not give details on the planned forensic team. 

"The Indonesian government will also provide $1 million to help rebuild public facilities, particularly schools, that have been destroyed by the fires," Dino said. 

It was not clear whether the money would be taken from the state budget. 

"In the spirit of the Australia-Indonesia partnership, Australia's success is also Indonesia's success, and its misery is also Indonesia's misery," he said. 

He added that in the letter, President Yudhoyono also made a commitment to help alleviate the suffering of the wildfire victims. 

Citing a huge number of the destroyed schools, Dino said the aid would cover only a small portion of the funds needed to contain the damage caused by the fires. 

More than 400 fires ripped through Victoria on Saturday, fed by 100-kilometer-per-hour winds, record heat and a severe drought, AP reported. 

The official death toll stood at 181 on Wednesday, but bodies were still being collected and Victoria Premier John Brumby said it would "exceed 200 deaths". 

"There are still a large number of people, in excess of 50, who the coroner believes are already deceased, but are not yet identified," Reuters quoted Brumby as telling reporters. 

About 25 fires were still burning in Victoria on Tuesday, with a dozen towns placed on high alert as strong winds fanned the flames. 

The fires have increased pressure on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to take firm action on climate change. Scientists have blamed global warming for the conditions that fueled the disaster. 

The Country Fire Authority said Wednesday the official tally of houses destroyed had risen to more than 1,000, from 750 earlier. Some 5,000 people have been left homeless, and 2,850 square kilometers of land has been scorched, it added. 

Presidential spokesman Dino also said the Indonesian aid was a return of favor for similar help that Australia had provided to Indonesia after a tsunami devastated Aceh province and Nias in North Sumatra at the end of 2004. 

He said that at the time, Australia had donated AU$1 billion in post-tsunami relief to help rebuild Aceh and Nias through the Aceh-Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BBR Aceh-Nias), while six Australian soldiers had died during a mission in a Nias earthquake. 

In December 2004, a devastating tsunami killed some 168,000 people in the two regions, and left half a million people homeless and displaced many millions more.