The Saudi Arabian government has rushed aid to Indonesia, a country with the largest muslim population in the world, where thousands are suffering as a result of an earthquake that occurred on Saturday.
Oh wait....
That would be the US, not Saudi Arabia.
The Bush administration initially announced $500,000 in aid after the quake struck early Saturday, and by the end of the day had increased that amount to $2.5 million.
The United States has also sent a medical team of Marines from Japan to help with the response. A disaster assistance response team from the U.S. Agency for International Development is being readied and the amphibious assault ship USS Essex, which has extensive medical facilities, is en route to the affected area, White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said.
Two U.S. military cargo planes landed Tuesday at the site of an earthquake in Indonesia that killed more than 5,400, bringing some of the first significant aid to reach the tens of thousands of survivors who were left homeless.
About 20 U.S. Marines arrived on the cargo planes in the historic city of Yogyakarta and unloaded heavy lifting machinery and a portable field hospital, as Malaysian, Chinese and Japanese rescue workers joined Indonesian teams providing medical care and emergency supplies to victims.
And from PACOM
HONOLULU, Hawaii — The U.S. military plans to send 100 doctors, nurses and medical technicians to Indonesia to treat victims of the deadly earthquake that struck Central Java.
The workers, expected to arrive Monday, will be able to treat everything from trauma and broken bones to lesser injuries like bruises, said U.S. Pacific Command spokesman Lt. Col. Bill Bigelow on Sunday.
The medics will take surgical, laboratory, dental, and X-ray equipment with them.
The death toll from Saturday's 6.3-magnitude quake neared 5,000 while an estimated 200,000 people were displaced, most of whom camped in shacks close to their former homes or in shelters put up in rice fields. Hospitals overflowed with bloodied survivors.
The military doctors and nurses are from the U.S. Marine Corps' Third Marine Expeditionary Force based in Okinawa, U.S. Air Force units on Guam, and the USNS Mercy hospital ship currently visiting the Philippines as part of a five-month aid mission to Southeast Asia.
The medical staff will coordinate with the Indonesian government, the United Nations and U.S. Agency of International Development officials on the ground to determine where they will set up, Bigelow said.
Sorry about the confusion. You'd just expect rich Muslim countries to be the first on the scene of a disaster involving other Muslims. And, you know, the PR says the US is at war with Islam.
Perhaps Bush forgot Indonesia was a Muslim nation.
Or just didn't care....
