Plan is launching a US $500,000 appeal to support the tens of thousands affected by the devastating Indonesian earthquake.
Plan will be distributing non-food items and hygiene kits throughout the city. The kits will include blankets, soaps, mosquito nets, plastic mats and buckets. Plan does not currently operate programs itself in the affected earthquake area.
Plan's Director of Disasters and Humanitarian Response, Roger Yates, said: "Our priority right now is to meet the needs of the many children and their families affected by the two earthquakes. Plan is especially concerned for the safety of children who have been displaced from their homes.
"Plan has learnt many lessons from previous disasters such as the the Boxing Day tsunami and the Java quake in 2006.
"We are now putting these valuable lessons into practice: Our staff have already begun sending initial support while co-coordinating with other organisations to collect the detailed information needed for the full response."
At least 529 people are believed to have died after the 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck the coastal city of Padang and surrounding areas on the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Wednesday. But officials say this figure is expected to rise as more people are pulled from the rubble of collapsed buildings.
A massive rescue operation is under way after the earthquake, thought to be one of the biggest to hit Indonesia in recent years, devastated the area. The roof of the city's airport was brought down, as well as hotels, schools and houses. Power lines were cut and there were reports of landslides.
The earthquake was so strong that people reported that shaking could be felt in high buildings in the capital, Jakarta, and in Singapore and Malaysia.
There was further panic after another earthquake struck close to Padang early Thursday morning, but there have been no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
A medical team carries the body of an earthquake victim to a hospital in Padang, West Sumatra province October 1, 2009. Rescue teams struggled on Thursday to reach scores of people ...
