Brussels, 14/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission announced on 12 March that it had allocated a further €11 million to the victims of the flooding in South-East Asia at the end of 2011. The money will be provided by ECHO, the Commission's humanitarian aid wing, and brings to €24 million the Commission's emergency humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable among the 7.5 million people hit by the typhoons, storms and floods that affected a region well accustomed to storms and tropical depressions. People from four countries - the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam - will benefit from this new funding which will go towards the recovery and rehabilitation, the capacities of national and local authorities having been stretched to their limit and beyond. Particular attention will be given to indigenous communities in the Filipino region of Mindanao where nearly 1,300 people were killed last year in Cyclone Washi.
“While the waters may have now receded the humanitarian needs have not. Although the cameras have left and the headlines have changed, we are not leaving until much-needed disaster prevention projects have been carried out. This is essential so that we are not helping people back to their feet only for them to get knocked down again in more floods next year”, International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said.
In the Philippines, it is expected that at least 150,000 people will remain in need of aid throughout the coming months, in Cambodia estimates are as high as 250,000, in Vietnam, 200,000, and in Laos, 70,000. (AN/transl.rt)