MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Smith
The Australian Government will provide further assistance of up to $750,000 to help disaster recovery and risk reduction activities in earthquake affected areas of Sichuan Province.
Australia will provide up to $500,000 to assist reconstruction planning through the World Bank's Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery.
Chinese authorities will conduct a damage, loss and needs assessment for recovery and reconstruction. This will be supported by the World Bank Facility.
The Australian Government will also provide up to $250,000 to address the acute psychological distress of communities adversely affected by the earthquake.
This funding will support a joint China Centre for Disease Control and Asia-Australia Mental Health facility. The centre will train a network of over 1,000 mental health workers to implement simple effective psychological first aid measures for children and adult survivors of the disaster, as well as for the broader community.
The assistance will build on Australian expertise in the mental health field. It will also continue a longstanding partnership between Chinese and Australian mental health experts in developing community intervention strategies to deal with the psychological effects of disasters.
This assistance follows Australia's earlier provision of $1 million to the International Federation of the Red Cross to support local Red Cross efforts in China and $1 million of emergency relief supplies to the Chinese Government to help the rescue and recovery efforts in Sichuan Province.
Mr Smith's Office: Courtney Hoogen 02 6277 7500 or 0488 244901
AusAID Public Affairs 0417 680 590