Bogor – About 100 tonnes of useless and out-of-date medicines donated by foreigners after a major earthquake last year have been incinerated this week, an official said.

"One hundred tonnes have already been burned, beginning from Tuesday," Vincent Aloysius from the cement plant where the drug disposal is taking place in Bogor, south of Jakarta, told AFP. He said a further 100 tonnes were set to be burned from Saturday at the plant's incinerator.

The medicines were sent to Indonesia in the wake of an 8.7-magnitude quake that struck off the coast of Nias island in March 2005, killing more than 850 and injuring 6,000.

The destruction was organised by the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Development Programme, which is funding the incineration. Indonesia has struggled to deal with hundreds of tonnes of unwanted medicines being donated in the wake of a slew of disasters in recent years.

After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami which killed 168,000 people in Aceh province, some 600 tonnes of expired, damaged or inappropriate medicine were donated. A further 50 tonnes of such drugs are also set to be destroyed following the May 27 Yogyakarta earthquake, which killed some 5,800 people.