The United States will provide Indonesia with 500,000 U.S. dollars in emergency aid to its earthquake victims, President George W. Bush said in a statement released late Saturday.

"Through financial and material support, the United States is assisting with recovery efforts in coordination with Indonesian authorities, and we stand prepared to provide additional assistance as needed," Bush said.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also said "we will continue to follow this situation closely to ensure that U.S. citizens in the affected area receive assistance and to help the Government of Indonesia respond to this disaster."

Personnel with the U.S. Agency for International Development are in Yogyakarta, the central Indonesian city that bore much of the quake's impact, Rice said.

The quake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale rocked Yogyakarta city, Klaten, Bantul and Gunung Kidul, in Yogyakarta Province at around 5:55 a.m. local time (2255 GMT Friday) killing more than 3,000 people and injuring thousands more.

This is Indonesia's worst disaster since the December 2004 tsunami that killed 131,000 people on Sumatra.

Source: Xinhua