Posted on April 3, 2005

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Funding for Victims of Latest Earthquake Sufficient, UN Says

United Nations relief agencies have announced that relief and reconstruction efforts in Indonesia following December's catastrophic tsunami disaster were well funded, and that the agencies are unlikely to need additional funds in order to respond to the latest earthquake to hit the region, Reuters reports.

Indonesian officials estimate that about a thousand people died — mainly on a small island off of Sumatra — when an earthquake registering 8.7 on the Richter scale rattled the region on March 28. Representatives of the World Food Programme, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and UNICEF, as well as the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said staff was already moving into the newly affected areas, and food and medical supplies were on the way. A mid-term review and assessment of the relief operation in response to the December tsunami, with UN disaster relief coordinator Jan Egeland presiding, is scheduled for April 6.

"There should be no problem with funds. We received enough support for the tsunami appeal," said World Food Programme spokesperson Christiane Berthiaume, referring to the massive outpouring of support from people around the globe in response to the December 26 disaster that left nearly 300,000 dead or missing.

“U.N. Says Well-Funded for New Quake Disaster Aid.” Reuters 3/29/05.

Primary Subject: Tsunami Relief
Secondary Subject(s): International Affairs/Development
Location(s): Indonesia, International

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