Australian Assistance for Victims of Hurricane Mitch

MEDIA RELEASE

Released By:
Downer

The Australian Government will
contribute funds to help provide essential medicines, health care, and transport
to deliver food and other essential relief supplies to assist the victims of the
death and destruction wreaked throughout Central America by Hurricane Mitch.
Australian non-government aid agencies will also be supported in their work with
local communities to address immediate needs for food, shelter and healthcare as
well as commence the process of rehabilitation.

The contribution will be provided
through aid organisations already active in the region and which have a proven
track record of reaching those in need. Because of the distant geographical
location of this disaster from Australia, it would not be practical or cost
effective for the Australian government to send goods or services to the
region.

We are still waiting on the report of
the UN Disaster Assessment Team but a clearer picture of needs has now emerged.
Because of the obvious devastation caused by the disaster, the Government wishes
to provide assistance as soon as possible to deal with the tragedy affecting the
people of Central America.

Australia will provide $500,000 through
Australian non-government organisations that have ongoing aid activities in the
region. The funding will supplement their own resources and enable them to
provide immediate relief to victims as well as assist with the important task of
rehabilitation.

$250,000 will be provided to the United
Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) to support
efforts to improve urgently needed road and air transport capacity which will
enable the rapid delivery of relief supplies to the victims.

Another $250,000 will be provided to
the International Federation of the Red Cross to assist with the provision of
basic health care, a particularly urgent need in view of the numbers injured and
the potential for the spread of disease in the aftermath of the
disaster.

A total of $1 million will be provided
by Australia for these relief efforts.

The storm has been the most devastating
reported in Central America this century and has caused widespread devastation
to Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala and to a lesser extent, Panama, Costa
Rica and Belize.

Some 2.5 million people are struggling
to survive in the aftermath of the storm. Over 11,500 people are reported to
have died, and 14,000 people are missing as a result of flooding, mudslides or
being isolated in remote areas.

Damage to infrastructure has been
immense, with most of the key access roads completely damaged, bridges destroyed
and thousands of homes wiped out. There has been a massive loss of crops which
will threaten basic food supplies for the next three months. Despite heavy rain,
rescue operations and immediate relief operations are continuing.