MOSCOW, October 1 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will send on Thursday rescue workers, doctors and a mobile hospital to Indonesia after devastating earthquakes left hundreds dead in the archipelago, an Emergency Services Ministry spokesman said.
Western Indonesia has suffered two major quakes in two days. On Wednesday, a quake with a magnitude of 7.6 struck the city of Padang, leaving at least 200 dead.
On Thursday morning, a second quake measuring 6.9 rocked Sumatra island located some 180 kilometers from yesterday's quake.
"In line with an order from the president of the Russian Federation, two Emergency Services Ministry airplanes are preparing to fly to Indonesia," the spokesman said.
Both earthquakes are estimated to have killed well over 500 people and the death toll could reach into the thousands.
Part of the Pacific's Ring of Fire, Indonesia is in the world's most seismically active region, registering 6,000-7,000 earthquakes with a magnitude of 4.0 or above annually.
On Wednesday, an earthquake thousands of kilometers to the west caused several tsunamis, which hit the Pacific island nations of American and Western Samoa, and Tonga killing hundreds of people.
