(2005-R22) News Release
MISSISSAUGA - The Honourable
Aileen Carroll, Minister of International Cooperation, and Wajid Khan,
Member of Parliament for Mississauga - Streetsville, today announced that
Canada will allocate more than $7.5 million to Canadian non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) for projects that will support ongoing relief work
in communities affected by the earthquake that struck parts of South Asia
on October 8, 2005. Today's funding, delivered through the Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA), is part of the Government of Canada's South
Asia Earthquake Matching Fund Program, bringing disbursements under this
program to just over $10 million.
"Canada has responded effectively to the disaster that has affected so many lives and we will continue to provide assistance throughout the recovery and reconstruction period," said Mr. Khan. "Canadians donated generously to help the victims of the earthquake and their generosity is being matched dollar-for-dollar by CIDA."
For example, CARE has already distributed 4,000 tents and other non-food household essentials to some 28,000 people. Oxfam provided health and hygiene kits to an estimated 50,000 beneficiaries. And Save the Children Canada has begun distributing food to 187,000 earthquake survivors and has sent more than 75 truckloads of relief supplies including 3,500 tents, nearly 11,000 blankets and more than 2,200 family food packages to areas hardest hit by the earthquake.
The relief projects announced today will be carried out by World Vision Canada ($2.3 million), the Aga Khan Foundation Canada/FOCUS ($1.6 million), CARE Canada ($1 million), the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace ($800,000), Primate's World Relief and Development Fund ($750,000), Oxfam Canada (more than $500,000), Foster Parents Plan ($400,000), Save the Children Canada ($198,000) and the Canadian Relief Foundation ($190,000). Please refer to the attached backgrounder for more details.
"Canada is committed to assist the countries affected by this devastating earthquake now and in the long term," said Minister Carroll. "Our partners working in these regions have proven their ability and commitment to deliver assistance to the victims under very difficult conditions and we will continue to support their efforts."
To date, Canada's commitment to the South Asian earthquake is estimated at more than $57 million, including the cost of deploying the Department of National Defence's Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART).
Funding for these initiatives was provided for in the February 2005 Federal Budget and is therefore built into the existing fiscal framework.
Information
Media Relations Office, Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA)
Telephone: (819) 953-6534
E-mail: info@acdi-cida.gc.ca
Stefano Pileggi, Office of Wajid Khan
Telephone: (416) 268-7990
DETAILS OF CANADA'S ASSISTANCE TO EARTHQUAKE-STRICKEN SOUTH ASIA
A strong earthquake struck the areas northeast of Islamabad on October 8, 2005. While the effects of the earthquake and its aftershocks were also felt in India, Afghanistan and China, Pakistan sustained the most damage. Assistance to Canadian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is part of the comprehensive Government of Canada response to this tragedy.
On October 11, 2005, the Government of Canada announced that it would create a South Asia Earthquake Matching Fund. The fund will be equivalent in size to the total amount of monetary donations made between October 8 and October 26, 2005, inclusively by individual Canadians to registered Canadian charitable organizations for the South Asia earthquake. The South Asia Earthquake Matching Fund will provide financial support for relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction projects in the earthquake-affected area (Pakistan and India, including Kashmir, and Afghanistan) proposed to the Canadian International Development Aagency by eligible Canadian NGOs.
The funding announced today is supporting the following initiatives in Pakistan and India:
- $2.3 million to World Vision Canada to address physical security issues for earthquake affected families in Manshera District, including the distribution of 2,800 fully winterized tents for families residing in high elevations; 2,800 shelter-building materials for families with non-winterized tents or those at lower elevations; and 2,800 non-food shelter kits consisting of covered bins, kitchen pots and utensils, hygiene kits, and stoves and cooking fuel. This will benefit some 5,600 families.
- $1.6 million to the Aga Khan Foundation Canada/FOCUS to provide 2,000 families with shelter kits (including winterized tents, blankets, cooking kits and supplies), health and protection services for 500 women with special needs and 450 orphaned children, as well as for fuel to support 900 flying hours of helicopter operations.
- $1 million to CARE Canada to provide fully winterized shelter kits to over 800 families. In addition, funding will be used for child protection activities for an estimated 1,500 children through the establishment of child-friendly areas and activities focused on educational games to prepare them for the school year.
- $800,000 to the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace to improve the physical security and improve or maintain the health situation of earthquake-affected families in the Shangla, Kohistan, and Batagram Districts of North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. Acitivities include the distribution of winterized shelter materials for 2,000 families and materials for the construction of housing units for 750 families, along with complementary thermal protection (blankets, mats, sheeting, etc.). The water/sanitation component of the project will restore community water sources in some 20 villages, restore household latrines and bathing areas to 1,000 families and restore communal latrines for 1,200 families.
- $750,000 to Primate's World Relief and Development Fund to distribute essential household items to 6,200 families in earthquake-affected areas in India and shelter kits (winterized tents, blankets and plastic sheeting) for 1,500 families in the North West Frontier Province region of Pakistan. The project was proposed collectively by a group of six churches: Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, Mennonite Central Committee, Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, Primate's World Relief and Development Fund, Presbyterian World Service and Development, and United Church of Canada. The proposal was designed on the basis of submissions to Action by Churches Together, a global alliance of churches and related agencies.
- $500,000 to Oxfam Canada to purchase and distribute 1,250 temporary emergency shelter kits to assist those families whose homes were severely destroyed or damaged. An estimated 12,000 people would directly benefit from this initiative.
- $400,000 to Foster Parents Plan for child protection as well as water, sanitation and shelter support to an established camp in the heavily affected Siran valley. The affected area is host to an estimated 100,000 people, including 35,000 children. This will help support 425 families with shelter, household and hygiene kits, and support 36 early childhood education centres and two non-formal education centres.
- close to $198,000 to Save the Children Canada to procure and distribute essential household relief materials to 600 targeted and vulnerable families in the Baramulla district of Indian-held Jammu and Kashmir State. These supplies include clothing, tents, water purification tablets, bleaching powder, kerosene, buckets with lids, mugs, utensils and jerry cans.
- $190,000 to the Canadian Relief Foundation to establish medical clinics in earthquake-affected areas. The medical field teams are being staffed, initially, by volunteer professionals from Canada, some of whom are of Pakistani origin and are familiar with the local language and customs.
Information
Media Relations Office, Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA)
Telephone: (819) 953-6534|
E-mail: info@acdi-cida.gc.ca