RI Grants US$3.1 Million for ASEAN Flood Victims

Tuesday, 25 October, 2011 | 14:30 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The Indonesian government has granted US$3.1 million for ASEAN countries affected by flooding. Recipient countries include Thailand ($1 million), Vietnam ($500,000), Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and the Philippines (each $400,000).

“This is a form of our solidarity as the ASEAN leader,” said Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare Agung Laksono when handing the grant to each country’s representative at the ministry office in Jakarta yesterday. Agung said the cash assistance was the most practical measure.

The Indonesian government, said Agung, had expressed its condolences for the casualties and material losses suffered by the people of Thailand, the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar. Agung added that Indonesia had always received assistance from ASEAN countries in times of disasters, such as during the tsunami in Aceh and the earthquake in West Sumatra.

Cambodian Ambassador Kan Pharidh thanked the Indonesian government for the grant, saying, “This is not the first time the Indonesian government has provided us with assistance.” The flooding in Cambodia, he added, had killed over 100 people and forced 200,000 others to relocate. Around 405,000 ha of agricultural land has also been inundated.

In Thailand, the flood killed 269 people while 2 million others were forced to evacuate. In Vietnam, over 50 people died, 100,000 homes were inundated, one million people sought refuge and hundreds of thousands of rice fields were flooded.

KARTIKA CANDRA