UN Delivers 1,300 Tents, Provides 40 Trucks To Aid Indonesia Quake Victims - Spokesman

UN relief agencies have begun delivering emergency tents and other supplies to victims of a recent earthquake and tsunami on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and will make a fleet of trucks available for aid groups to transport and distribute supplies beginning Saturday, UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Friday.

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2018) UN relief agencies have begun delivering emergency tents and other supplies to victims of a recent earthquake and tsunami on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and will make a fleet of trucks available for aid groups to transport and distribute supplies beginning Saturday, UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Friday.

"The UN refugee agency [UNHCR] today delivered the first of more than 1,300 emergency tents to families who have been made homeless," Dujarric said. "Additional supplies such as sleeping mats, mosquito nets and solar lamps will be delivered in the coming weeks.

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In addition, Dujarric explained, the UN World food Program is due to have 40 trucks operating in the hard hit city of Palau by Saturday, which will be available for UN and other aid agencies to deliver supplies.

A 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck Sulawesi in central Indonesia on September 28, followed by tsunami waves more than 20 feet high that smashed island at speeds approaching 500 miles per hour, according to published reports.

Nearly 70,000 homes were destroyed or damaged, 80,000 people displaced and about 2,000 people killed, according Indonesian government accounts cited by Dujarric.