AFP,
MADRID: Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced Saturday that Spain will dispatch large scale military aid to support international relief efforts in Indonesia, which was severely hit by the deadly earthquake and resulting tsunamis last month.
“We are dealing with a global humanitarian state of emergency,” said Zapatero, dubbing the international aid effort “an urgent race against death” as he announced that three aircraft, a navy vessel and 650 troops were to be deployed in the coming days.
“We must respond to those who need help the most. Spain will do its utmost to this end,” Zapatero said after meeting Defence Minister Jose Bono and Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos to put the finishing touches to the 6.5 million euro (eight million dollar) deployment.
More than 156,000 people in 11 countries are confirmed dead from the December 26 disaster in the Indian Ocean.
Spain's military contribution — it already has aid personnel working on the badly-hit Indonesian island of Sumatra — will make it the fifth-biggest aid contributor in terms of troops on the ground.
With the world's seven leading industrialized countries having agreed to support the suspension of debt payments by countries affected by the tsunami and EU states mulling similar action to bolster the reconstruction effort Zapatero said he favoured a “widespread moratorium” being imposed on the foreign debts of the countries hit.
Moratinos meanwhile urged greater EU coordination in the growing aid drive. He said existing response mechanisms in EU states required upgrading.
“European countries with a high number of victims did not have recourse to sufficient consular attention,” Moratinos said by way of example as he urged Spaniards to continue giving generously to the international disaster fund.
Several thousand European tourists were among the fatalities.
EU states have to date pledged around 1.5 billion euros (1.95 billion dollars) with Spanish aid standing at around 55 million euros.
Despite the critical observations Moratinos praised the overall EU response after foreign ministers vowed Friday to bolster support for the disaster-hit region.
Aside from mooted debt relief, EU proposals include support for a future tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean region.
“The (EU) initiative … will serve to alleviate the damage caused by the tsunami,” said Moratinos, who in the coming days will tour the affected region, starting with Sri Lanka before he moves on to Thailand and Indonesia.
There, he is due to see for himself the devastation in areas including Banda Aceh, among the worst affected.
The newspaper El Pais, which is close to Zapatero's socialist government, earlier reported two Hercules transport aircraft and three Casa 235 maritime patrol planes would head to the Indonesian island of Sumatra next week.
The Hercules will reportedly fly back to Spain but the three Casa aircraft are to remain on the island in Medan with 70 soldiers to help distribute aid.
Later a Spanish navy amphibious ship carrying at least two Augusta Bell 212 helicopters, a field hospital and an engineering team will also head for Indonesia, the daily said.
