U.S. sends Indonesia medical support
About 100 service members stationed in the Pacific will provide health care and supplies to victims of Saturday's deadly earthquake in Indonesia, the U.S. Pacific Command at Camp Smith announced last night.
The deployment is part of a larger U.S. government response, officials said, and is being coordinated by officials at Camp Smith.
"Doctors, nurses, medical technicians and supplies are rapidly deploying to Indonesia," said Brigadier Gen. Dana Atkins, U.S. Pacific Command's director of operations. "We offer our sincere condolences to the people of Indonesia affected by this tragedy, and will do our best to ease their suffering with available medical assets."
The magnitude-6.2 earthquake on Java island has killed more than 4,000 people and left thousands more injured or homeless. It is the fourth destructive earthquake to hit Indonesia in the last 17 months.
Atkins said the 100 service members will bring surgical, shock trauma, dental and X-ray expertise to earthquake-ravaged areas.
They are expected to arrive in Indonesia tonight or tomorrow. A small medical crew was to land in Indonesia early today to assess medical needs and scope out a site to set up a makeshift hospital.
They will also coordinate their response with United Nations and U.S. Agency for International Development personnel, Camp Smith officials said.
The deployed service members will come from the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force in Okinawa, U.S. Pacific Air Force units in Guam and the USNS Mercy, which is in the Philippines as part of a medical deployment. None of the service members are Hawaii-based, officials said.
Meanwhile, officials said the Indonesia deployment of nine to 12 USNS Mercy nurses and doctors, along with medical supplies, will not affect the ship's mission in the Philippines. A Camp Smith spokesman said military and civilian personnel aboard the Mercy will continue to provide humanitarian and civic help in the Philippines as planned.