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Donors
raise US$ 717 m for Tsunami countries |
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Over
18 nations at Tuesday's Pledging conference in Geneva
committed US $ 717 million in cash for immediate
humanitarian assistance for the 12 countries affected in the
tsunami tragedy, the United Nations said yesterday.
This ministerial level meeting on humanitarian assistance to
tsunami affected communities was chaired by United Nations
Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Making the biggest commitment in cash, in response to the UN
appeal Japan pledged US $ 250 million for tsunami emergency
assistance followed by Germany US $ 68 million, Norway US $
65 million, United Kingdom US $ 74 million, United States US
$ 35 million, Sweden US $ 23 million, European Commission US
$ 61 million, China US $ 20 million, Canada US $ 29 million,
Australia Us $ 40 million, Denmark Us $ 22 million, Finland
US $ 30 million and US $ 22 million from the Russian
Federation.
"This US $ 717 million was concretely committed to our Us $
977 million appeal. That is 73 per cent of the total," the
Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Un
emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland said after the
meeting.UN Secretary General appealed for US $ 977 million
for emergency relief assistance to the affected nations at
the January 6 Tsunami aftermath ASEAN meeting in Jakarta.
Altogether 70 nations have taken part in this pledging
conference which was also attended by ministers of affected
nations.
The ADB has committed a total of US$ 676 million for tsunami
assistance at the recent ASEAN meeting. Its Resident
Director General in Europe said that it was fully committed
to delivering it quickly to Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the
Maldives. The Bank expressed it was fully prepared to
support the countries with additional aid for the
reconstruction phase. |
           
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