MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Hunt
Australia will provide $15 million to help reduce the impact of natural disasters in the Asia Pacific region on communities vulnerable to catastrophic events.
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Greg Hunt, said that natural disasters in the region are costly both in human and economic terms.
Mr Hunt, who will address the APEC Task Force for Emergency Preparedness in Cairns today, said that in 2005 over 90 per cent of those killed from natural disasters were from our region.
'Australia has responded to around 60 natural disasters in the past five years, mainly in the Asia Pacific region,' Mr Hunt said.
'Since 2005 the Australian Government has contributed over $1.16 billion toward humanitarian response and relief operations.
'Disaster response alone is not enough. This additional $15 million will be used to reduce the impact of disasters on developing countries.
'We will support improved building construction practices, early warning systems, education and mapping the occurrences of natural hazards.
'We will work with scientific organisations, community groups and the private sector to reduce the impact of disasters, share information on best practice disaster management and strengthen leadership in regional coordination.
'Australia's key partners for these activities will be the World Bank and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.'
Australia and Indonesia are currently co-chairing the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting of the Task Force for Emergency Preparedness in Cairns.
The Task Force coordinates and facilitates emergency preparedness activities amongst APEC's 21 member economies. The three-day meeting is discussing issues such as building preparedness, health issues and the economic impacts of disasters.
Media contacts:
John Deller (Mr Hunt's office) on 0400 496 596
AusAID (Public Affairs) on 0428 732 005 / 0417 733 430