Brussels, 09/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission decided on Friday 6 May to allocate €10 million in emergency humanitarian aid for vulnerable communities in Sri Lanka, whether refugees or the internally displaced.
The funding, from the ECHO (the European Commission's humanitarian aid wing) budget, will finance putting in place of basic services, the promotion of livelihood activities and reducing disaster risk in four districts of the northern and eastern provinces, vulnerable to natural disasters, through the Commission's Disaster Preparedness programme (DIPECHO).
The emergency aid will help some 75,000 refugees who continue to lead a difficult life in camps in Tamil Nadu, India, and returnees for whom recovery remains a challenge as they have little prospect of earning a stable livelihood. Those who had only just begun to rebuild their lives in Sri Lanka have recently faced another major obstacle - the floods that swept through the country's eastern province.
“Europe will continue its impartial support to the vulnerable communities in Sri Lanka, and will work to build the bridge between relief assistance and long-term development in the country”, said Kristalina Georgieva, Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response. Since the end of the conflict in 2009, the Commission has provided €14 million in emergency aid for internally displaced persons and €1 million for refugees in Tamil Nadu. €2 million were made available at the start of 2011 to help the communities affected by floods. (A.N./transl.rt)