EU humanitarian aid for China

The European Commission has adopted a humanitarian aid decision worth €1.72 million to help victims of flooding in the Guangxi, Hunan and Yunan provinces of China. The aid is being channelled through ECHO, the Humanitarian Aid Office of the European Commission, which comes under the responsibility of Commissioner Poul Nielson.

More than 80 million people were affected and 900 killed when torrential rain led to landslides and floods in large parts of China earlier this year. Nearly three million housing units were destroyed or damaged and many people are still living in temporary shelters. Four million hectares of farmland were also affected.

A consequence of the flooding is that untreated effluent continues to contaminate surface and groundwater reserves and this has led to a dramatic increase in cases of diarrhoea, fever and skin infection.

The funds allocated under the new decision, which are in addition to the €2 million already provided this year for humanitarian operations in China, will be spent on a series of actions including:

• the construction of 14,000 hygienic toilets;
  
  
• the construction of 500 water tanks for household and agricultural use, and
  
  
• the rebuilding of two primary schools.

| Top |