MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Downer
I am pleased to announce that the Australian
Government is to provide additional assistance to flood-devastated areas of
China.
The floods are affecting 240 million people,
one-fifth of the country's population, and are the worst in China since
1954.
At the end of August, the Chinese Government
estimated that more than 3000 people had been killed and that 5.6 million houses
and 1.3 million hectares of crops had been destroyed.
Although Australians are no strangers to the
devastation caused by flooding, the extent of the death and destruction in China
is beyond comparison with our own experiences.
Australia will contribute $1 million to the World
Food Program's emergency relief operation. It is estimated that the operation,
which will address the immediate and essential needs of the most vulnerable
communities, will cost US$88 million.
The World Food Program has assessed 21 counties in
China as being the most seriously affected, based on indicators such as the
number of households evacuated, overall damage to dwellings, damage to farmland,
livestock losses and per capita income.
According to the Program's assessment, 56 million
people in these 21 counties will be unable to return to their land until
mid-to-late October and will then be without food or a source of livelihood
until the next harvest in August 1999.
Australia has already committed $165,000 for flood
relief efforts through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies, which I announced in July.
The additional assistance will be provided through
the Australian government aid agency, AusAID.
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Innes Willox (Minister's Office) 02 |