EC grants €420,000 in humanitarian aid to the victims of Cyclone Ami in the Fiji Islands
The European Commission has granted €420,000
in humanitarian aid for the people of Fiji Islands affected by Cyclone
Ami in January. The funds will be directed through the Commission's Humanitarian
Aid Office (ECHO), which comes under the responsibility of Commissioner
Poul Nielson. The objective of this funding decision is to help people
whose homes have been destroyed or damaged by providing them with essential
non-food items. It will also restore and improve access to clean drinking
water in rural areas and repair some damaged schools. Over 130,000 people
were affected when Tropical Cyclone Ami hit Fiji in the early morning of
14 January, destroying homes and flooding parts of the South Pacific Archipelago
with winds of up to 185km/h. A state of disaster was declared as around
8,000 houses, crops and infrastructure including schools, communications
and electricity supply were damaged or destroyed. Heavy rainfall led to
landslides and intensive flooding, including dangerous flash floods.