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Quake aid inadequate, Tzu Chi says

Medical volunteers from the Tzu Chi Foundation's earthquake disaster medical relief team who were sent to Indonesia share their experiences in treating earthquake victims at a press conference yesterday. PHOTO: SUNG CHIH-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

Doctors with the Tzu Chi Founda-tion's first relief team for survivors of the Indonesian earthquake yesterday said that most of the quake's victims had not received timely aid, and that the medical resources available in Yogyakarta were insufficient to deal with the catastrophe.

The foundation's second medical team departed for Yogyakarta last Saturday, and is currently offering medical care to survivors and distributing goods.

Most of the surviving victims of the earthquake suffered from fractures, so they are most in need of surgical and orthopedic care, the doctors said at a press conference. The foundation's first relief team performed 25 operations for 23 fracture patients in six days.

Though doctors from Taiwan and other countries worked around the clock to perform operations on victims suffering from fractures, the majority of the victims still did not receive appropriate aid, the foundation said. The operating rooms and other medical facilities in Yogyakarta were as old those from Taiwan's era of Japanese occupation, the doctors said.

Buddhist Dalin Tzu Chi General Hospital orthopedist Jian Ruei-teng (簡瑞騰) displayed a picture in which a patient was being carried by two medical staff to the operating room.

"Even the way they took patients to the surgery room was not modern at all," said Jian, who volunteered for the relief effort.

He said that what he witnessed in Yogyakarta enabled him to "understand the patients' pain."

He shared another photo taken in a hospital in the disaster area, in which an 11-year-old boy's fractured leg could only be held in place by using mineral water bottles.

Hung Hung-dian (洪宏典), a doctor and the convener of the Buddhist Tzu Chi Southern Medical Association, said his surgeon's suitcase was the only resource available when he did relief work in remote villages. He even carried a power package with him when practicing medicine in case he wouldn't be able to clearly see his equipment.

Jeng Jing-feng (鄭敬楓), who serves as a pediatrician at the Buddhist Taipei Tzu Chi General Hospital, stressed the need for more physicians to join the relief efforts.

He added that many elderly people and children were abandoned and helpless, and that they needed counseling to help ease their pain and fear.

He said he could see sadness in childrens' eyes.

"They must be wondering how and why this [tragedy] could happen to them," Jeng said.

It has been more than a week since a magnitude 6.3 earthquake rocked Yogyakarta, killing 5,700 and injuring more than 20,000.

also see story:
Indonesian quake death toll revised

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