A Portuguese plane with 40 tons of medical materials and a nine-member
medical team on board on Tuesday headed for tsunami-hit Indonesia, said the
Portuguese Foreign Ministry.
The plane, leased by the Foreign Ministry through the Portuguese Institute
for Development Aid (IPAD), carries medicines,a field hospital, four doctors,
two nurses and three other aid workers, the ministry said.
The ministry in a statement also appealed to Portugal's privatesectors for
leasing another plane to transport the aid materials collected over the weekend
by a humanitarian group.
A donation campaign, named "Operation Rebirth", will be launched on Friday,
said Foreign Minister Antonio Monteiro on Tuesday.
The campaign, initiated by Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes,
aims to collect more money from the Portuguese public for tsunami-hit victims,
he said.
So far the Portuguese have donated about 2 million euros (2.7 million US
dollars) for aiding the tsunami-hit regions.
An earthquake, with a magnitude of 8.7 on the Richter scale according to
China's State Seismological Bureau, hit at 06:58 a.m.local time (0058 GMT) on
Dec. 26, 2004, off the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It was followed by a
tsunami that swept across the coastal countries of the Indian Ocean rim, wiping
off villages andkilling more than 140,000 people.
It is estimated that more than 1.8 million people in the tsunami-hit regions
need food aid and 5 million others have been made homeless.
