Members of mountain rescue teams in the Lake District are on standby to travel out to Indonesia to help in the humanitarian effort following the earthquake.

The news came after the teams were initially disappointed by the reception to their offer to help, which included the donation of radio equipment and a vehicle.

At the time of going to press, team members were waiting to hear from the Red Cross, which may be able to use the equipment and personnel.

Mountain rescue teams in the Lake District changed radio frequency last September and, as a result, there are 200 handsets, more than 20 vehicle sets and around nine base station sets which the teams cannot use but which could be extremely helpful in areas in which communications have gone down.

The teams offered the radios - and Kendal MRT also pledged a Volkswagen Synchro 4x4 vehicle which could support the radio equipment.

The offer was made to the Department for International Development, but because there was not a specific request from an aid agency for such gear, no progress was made.

However, following publicity, and intervention from people including Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Collins, the International Commission for the Red Cross, in Geneva, and the British Red Cross are now considering the offer.

The radio equipment, the vehicle and members of teams in the Lake District could be deployed to the Aceh Province in Indonesia.

Kendal MRT leader Andy Dell said: "At the moment it's an open-ended offer. The first tranche of help we have offered is four personnel and those people are making preparations."

Mr Dell said that the Cumbria-wide initiative would involve them setting up the equipment, training people to use and maintain it, and any other expertise they could bring to the operation.

The radios would be given as a donation, and it is also felt that it would be sensible to leave the vehicle in the afflicted areas. Kendal MRT has an offer of a loan of a minibus to tide it over, and is already fund-raising to replace the VW.

Mr Dell said: "Although we have not had experience in a disaster of this scale we have been involved in other big things such as the Lockerbie bombing and the Morecambe Bay disaster, and we realise the problems of command, control and communication in incidents, and we recognise this equipment as being able to make a real difference."