JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister the scale of the disaster...
PRIME MINISTER:
The scale is appalling, at least according to the army, some 18,000 and maybe more and 7.6 on the Richter Scale. It's an appalling natural disaster, and our thoughts are very much with the people of Pakistan in particular, and Afghanistan and India. Australia has already pledged half a million dollars of aid as an additional initial contribution. If more help, either financial or emergency relief, is needed and we are in contact with the Pakistani authorities to see if there are other things that are needed, but it's a terrible natural disaster and we feel very deeply for the people of Pakistan, many of the houses are very poorly constructed and therefore they feel the weight of earthquakes very much.
JOURNALIST:
I guess dealing with earthquakes isn't a speciality of Australia, but is there likely to be assistance we can offer to...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there may be medical assistance, I don't know, I just want the Government and people of Pakistan to know if there is other help we can provide, we will.
JOURNALIST:
The scale of the disaster is so huge to Australians I guess, but how well equipped are these countries do you think to deal with it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well no country is all that well equipped to deal with a disaster of this magnitude, and a country that has some big infrastructure gaps, finds something like this, quite overwhelming.
JOURNALIST:
The international community would have a big responsibility.
PRIME MINISTER:
A very big responsibility and we've made an initial contribution and if there is more, we will provide it.
[ends]