Shelterbox given £12,000 in a day

The boxes include a tent, sleeping bags, cooking equipment and tools

A Cornish charity has raised more than £12,000 in a day to send lifesaving equipment to the victims of the earthquake in Java.

The money was donated to Shelterbox on Bank Holiday Monday in just seven hours after phone lines opened at 0900 BST.

The Helston-based charity packed 400 tents during the day to provide cover for 4,000 people. It has despatched a team which will fly to Java.

More than 4,300 people were killed when quake hit near Yogyakarta.

Aid distribution

The 400 tents will be flown to Jakarta and then distributed to where they are needed.

The charity hopes to send 1,000 more tents and another team in the next week.

Shelterbox, founded in 2000, sends boxes of vital aid to countries around the world which have been devastated by natural disasters.

The boxes include a 10-man tent, sleeping bags, cooking stove and utensils, tool kit, plastic bags and water purification tablets.

They also include children's activity packs, containing pencils, crayons and colouring books. Each box costs £490.

In recent years, Shelterbox has sent boxes to victims of earthquakes, typhoons, hurricanes in Africa, India, Pakistan, Darfur and countless other area.

As well, as the 4,300 believed to have died in the Java quake, at least 20,000 people were injured and 130,000 made homeless.