The European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) has funded a team of medical aid workers that flew out this week to Sakhalin Island, hit by a major earthquake last Saturday.

The Medecins sans Frontières-Belgim team will work on a one-month project with a grant of 250,000 European Currency Units. The team will :

- attend to casualties and bury the dead

- provide shelter, blankets and other immediate assistance to the homeless

- set up water distribution points and latrines as necessary.

According to Medecins sans Frontières, about 5,000 people were affected by the earthquake. An estimated 1,500 were killed, and some 2,500 are missing. About 1,000 are homeless.