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hina, Australia and Singapore are among members of the international community that have contributed to help relieve the impact of last week’s earthquake in Aceh.

The Chinese Red Cross provided US$100,000 worth of humanitarian aid in cash for disaster relief and reconstruction efforts in Aceh after a strong earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale hit the province last Wednesday.

The quake killed over 100 people and has displaced over 83,000 others.

The donation was handed over by Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Xie Feng to Executive Chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) Ginandjar Kartasasmita on Tuesday in Jakarta.

Xie Feng said that “it has been tradition of the two sides [Indonesia and China] to stand together in times of ups and downs, especially in times of difficulties”.

“The Chinese government and people share the pain and sorrow of Indonesia. We are very concerned about people in the affected region,” he said. He added under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and efforts from the international community, the people in Aceh would soon recover and rebuild their homes.

Xie Feng said the government had decided to offer another $1 million in cash to help Aceh’s disaster relief and reconstruction.

Shortly after the earthquake, Chinese President Xi Jinping immediately sent a condolence message to President Jokowi. In 2004, when the earthquake and tsunami hit Aceh, China also provided assistance.

“The Chinese rescue team was among the first to arrive in Aceh. With Chinese people’s donations, we built the China-Indonesia friendship village in Greater Aceh regency,” he said.

Ginandjar said clean water, medicines, medical treatment and surgery were needed in Aceh right now.

“People need clean water as it became black due to the shallow wells,” he said.

The PMI deployed 108 volunteers from Aceh province and provided 10 water trucks, containing 8,700 liters of water in total, and six ambulances.

Ginandjar said the Australian government also provided assistance for disaster relief efforts.

Division head for disaster management at PMI Arifin Muh. Hadi said the organization received $13 billion in donations including from the Australian government, Disaster Relief Emergency Response under the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and Singapore’s Red Cross to help reconstruction in Aceh for the next five months.

The ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Center) also deployed eight groups to Aceh including the ASEAN-Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ASEAN-ERAT) consisting of personnel from Malaysia and Singapore, said AHA Center’s communication officer Andri Suryo.

“The ASEAN-ERAT members were deployed to coordinate further with the BNPB [National Disaster Management Agency],” he said.

Andri said the relief items from the Disaster Emergency Logistic System of ASEAN stockpile in Sabang, Malaysia, had also been delivered to Aceh in two flight rotations.

The items included 416 kitchen sets, 200 units of family tents, 192 units of shelter repair kits and 360 units of family kits.

As of Tuesday, there were 101 deaths reported, BNPB data revealed.

BNPB recorded 83,838 residentstaking refuge in a number of shelters while 857 people were injured and 11,668 houses were damaged. (sha)