Bengkulu, Indonesia 25/09/2007 - Following the rapid assessment conducted by CARE emergency workers as an immediate responds to the powerful earthquake that hit the province of Bengkulu and West Sumatera, CARE is now delivering basic item such as tarpaulins, safe water system and jerry cans to the affected community.

CARE with its own Emergency Response Fund moves ahead to distributing basic needs to the people of Mukomuko district identified as the area that was hit the hardest in the province where more than 5,000 houses were destroyed, 700 severely damaged and 3,000 moderately and slightly damaged. Working closely together with Yayasan Ulayat Bengkulu, a local NGO in the province, CARE has distributed 1,000 tarpaulins, 4,500 bottles of safe water system and 1,500 jerry cans to 35 villages in two sub-districts in Mukomuko. As CARE has secured additional assistance from USAID and UN OCHA for the emergency relief, CARE will dispatch 4,000 more tarpaulins, 8,000 bottles of safe water system and 4,000 jerry cans to around 5,500 affected household in Mukomuko.

"We are coordinating with the head of villages to ensure that all affected families in the villages received the aid. It's important that all families received the aid evenly in one village to avoid jealousy that makes people even more vulnerable to a disaster," said Adjie Fachrurrazi, Team leader of CARE Emergency Team in Indonesia.

Bengkulu had once experienced almost the same scale of tectonic earthquake in June 4, 2000 causing severe damage, killed at least 100 people and injured thousands of others.

CARE, with 40 years of experience in Indonesia, has responded to several natural disasters in the country in the past few years, including the tsunami in Aceh in 2004 that killed more than 132,000 people.

For more information on CARE response to Bengkulu earthquake, please contact:

Wiwik Widyastuti CARE Indonesia Communications Officer Mobile: +62-812-108-2491