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Singapore Red Cross to send relief team to Indonesia

17 May 2006, SINGAPORE - Singapore Red Cross will send a relief team to Indonesia's Magelang on Thursday to help people affected by the recent eruption of Mount Merapi volcano, Channel News Asia reported Wednesday. The team, comprising a logistics administrator and four nurses,will work with its Indonesian counterpart to provide medical aid and assist in relief distribution in the district for two weeks. They will bring with them five boxes of medical supplies.

All the five team members were involved in post-disaster relief operations in Indonesia's Meulaboh after the 2004 tsunami and in Pakistan and Indonesia's Nias after earthquakes took place there last year, according to the report. On Tuesday, the Mercy Relief, a non-governmental organization in Singapore, has already sent a medical relief team to the affected area. It is planning to send another team later this month.

Mount Merapi volcano was reported to have erupted on Monday morning, but on a "relatively small" scale. Merapi, rising from the plains of the densely populated Java Island, about 450 km southeast of Jakarta, is one of the 65 volcanoes listed as dangerous in Indonesia.