Brussels, 16/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has recently approved the granting of humanitarian aid to several countries for a total of 10.15 million euro. Here are the beneficiary countries, as well as the amounts and destinations of the funds allocated to them by Echo, the Community's Humanitarian Office:
Ethiopia: 5 million euro has been allocated to the World Food Programme (WFP) to continue its operations in the region of Tigray. WFP currently distributes food to close to 312,000 people and is steadying itself to take on the inflow of a further 30 to 60,000 people.
Eritrea: 2 million euro has been earmarked for some hundred thousand people displaced during the fighting in May, and will serve to supply basic necessities, shelter, blankets and improve water supply and hygiene. Aid will be directed through five Echo partners active on the ground. The recent peace agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea should, in the long-run, allow for an improvement of the situation, but meanwhile help should be provided to people forced to flee home and whose future remains uncertain.
Sri Lanka: 1.2 million euro has been allocated to transport, by sea, to the northern peninsula of Jaffna, to humanitarian aid for many people displaced within the country, access to these populations being very difficult by land. Of this total, 70,000 euro has been allocated to the International Committee of the Red Cross, and 500,000 to NGOs partners of Echo working on repairing water management systems and improving food security for displaced persons.
India: 1.18 million euro aid has been released to help the populations victims of the 1999 cyclone in the state of Orissa, and where the food situation has been worsened by the recent drought. This amount will finance implementation, by two NGOs partners of Echo, of projects helping vulnerable groups in the most affected districts: food aid for 30,000 people, supplementary nutrition programme for malnourished 3,000 children and 600 lactating mothers, the construction of wells for drinking water for 25,000 people.
North Korea: 750,000 euro has been allocated to the supply of warm clothing for 33,000 children, and 8,000 blankets by three NGOs partners of Echo. This aid is in addition to earlier funding (end-November) of 600,000 euro for the supply of winter clothing to children of kindergarten age.