Updated Monday 29 May 2006

BISCUITS AND NOODLES

WFP began distributing emergency food rations on Sunday, 28 May, to survivors of the devastating earthquake in Indonesia, just 36 hours after it happened.

The earthquake, measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale, hit the Indonesian island of Java just before dawn on Saturday, 27 May. Current estimates put the number of dead at more than 3,000 people, and at least 200,000 people are estimated to be homeless.

Around midday (local time) on Sunday, three trucks carrying 30 tons of high-energy biscuits from WFP arrived in Bantul and Klaten, two of the districts worst-hit by the earthquake.

The biscuits are “fortified,”, which means they have vitamins and minerals added to them, and can feed about 20,000 people for 7 days.