UK sends earthquake aid

Oxfam's Paul Sherlock: "Sanitation top priority"

The first stages of the UK's aid package to help victims of the El Salvador earthquake are under way.

The UK Government has pledged more than £600,000 to provide medicines, sanitation and clean water supplies to the ravaged central American region.

On Tuesday, Oxfam will fly out its first shipments of water purification and sanitation equipment to El Salvador, in order to ensure a safe water supply in the affected area.

To stem disease you need to control the water and sanitation

Paul Sherlock
Technical co-ordinator, Oxfam

The Department of International Development has pledged £200,000 to the charity to pay for this, and a further £300,000 to the Pan-American Health Authority (PAHO) for medical supplies.

Around £100,000 of equipment is being shipped out from Oxfam's emergency warehouse in Oxfordshire.

Oxfam's technical co-ordinator Paul Sherlock - who will travel to the disaster zone - told the BBC water supplies were the top priority at the moment.

"The government of El Salvador have prioritised and they think that it's important," he said.

"But we know from our experience worldwide that to stem disease you need to control the water and sanitation side.

"We're flying in some stuff tomorrow night and we have a local team on the ground already, because we have been working in El Salvador for 30 years.

"So we'll have all the local structures, and the equipment we're using is lightweight, fast-moving equipment, so we'll be able to get things out almost within hours of it arriving on the ground.

"As that settles down we'll have to see what the priorities are.

"It may be shelter, it may be longer-term development in terms of its water supplies, reconstruction.

Rescue workers search for victims on the grounds of a Santa Ana church

"I think that is something we will have to look at in the longer term."

The UK Government's offer of aid follows Salvadoran President Francisco Flores' appeal for international assistance.

A Department of International Development spokesman said: "We will provide US $50,000 to OCHA - the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Assistance, for the deployment of a UN Disaster Assessment Co-ordination Mission.

"We will work with the El Salvadorian Government and others to co-ordinate humanitarian assistance and also pledge £100,000 to the Red Cross for their humanitarian work," he added.

National emergency

The earthquake - one of the most powerful to strike Central America in 20 years - has killed at least 80 people and injured 200 others.

Rescuers are still digging for survivors, while a number of countries have pledged humanitarian aid and supplies.

The 7.6-magnitude quake, which struck on Saturday, has left thousands unaccounted for in the country and more dead and injured in neighbouring Guatemala.

Thousands of homes and town buildings have been destroyed and President Flores has declared a state of national emergency

President Flores has called an emergency

Switzerland is to send an initial contribution of nearly £70,000 in emergency aid as part of a package which will also include food, drinking water and medicine.

Spain is to send a search and rescue team of 75 specially trained firefighters and 24 dogs to help in the search for survivors buried or trapped.

The Spanish Red Cross said it would also contribute nearly £50,000 of financial assistance to help survivors and rebuilding work.

Taiwan, which established its own rescue team following a devastating earthquake in 1999, is also sending its first overseas mission.

Taipei has offered over £120,000 in emergency relief funds to El Salvador, and a group of 20 to 30 rescue workers is preparing to leave for the country.