An MSF mobile team has been using two trucks to distribute non-food items in affected areas of Bantul, after an earthquake struck the region last week. To date, all hygiene kits containing essential basics such as soap, sheeting, utensils, have been distributed to 1,000 families.

The distribution of very basic reconstruction kits (containing hammer, saw, drills, nails etc) began yesterday (Sunday June 5) and approximately 1,000 families are expected to receive the materials.

A psychological team, consisting of one expat and three national staff members, have come from Aceh and began activities both the at both field and hospital level. At this stage the focus is particularly at hospital level and teams are offering; support to Indonesian psychologists; training to hospital medical staff on how to recognise and refer patients with psychological complaints; and debriefing the hospital staff, many of whom were also traumatised by the earthquake and the influx of patients they had to treat.

In addition, a surgical team has been working in in Bethesda Hospital, Yogyakarta, since Thursday last week where they are trying to clear the backlog of patients in need of urgent surgery. They are concentrating on complicated cases, such as compound fractures, and are operating on roughly five patients per day.

The post-op ward, which will house about 100 patients, is still under construction.  There is a problem of ambulances needed to transfer patients to the post-op ward, so MSF is now procuring  five ambulances for Yogyakarta's Bethesda  Hospital and collaborating with other NGOs and the Ministry of Health to transfer patients from other hospitals.

This evening, they hope to begin transferring  patients from Yogyakarta's Sargito hospital, where several hundred post-op patients are being housed in a parking lot.