Russia to send rescue teams to aid earthquake survivors in Indonesia

Russia was to send teams of rescue workers to aid recovery efforts on the Indonesian island of Nias, where an earthquake killed an estimated 1,000 people.

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said 40 rescuers, two teams with dogs trained to search for people and a mobile hospital would be flown to the Indonesian city of Medan on Thursday.

An additional group of rescuers will be sent to the region if necessary, ministry spokesman Sergei Vlasov said.

The 8.7-magnitude quake struck the remote Indonesian island early Tuesday, three months after the earthquake-triggered tsunami in the Indian Ocean region that killed at least 175,000 people.

Russia sent more than 600 tons of humanitarian cargo in the wake of the Dec. 26 calamity, and helped several thousand victims in hospitals set up to treat survivors.

Associated Press