UNDP commits US $1 million in tsunami aid |23 February 2005

UNDP Resident Representative to Seychelles Aase Smedler announced the aid last week from her headquarters in Mauritius.

She said another US $50,000 has been approved for “an emergency support project” in Seychelles.

According to the UNDP, a project document will be signed shortly between Seychelles and the UNDP to initiate rehabilitation efforts, particularly for roads and bridges.

An initial UN mission in January initially assessed the damage to Seychelles and backed an amount of US $8.9 million for the country’s immediate rehabilitation needs.

Since then a number of other specialised UN agencies, such as the Food and Agricultural Organisation, the UN Environment Programme and the World Bank have visited to develop relief programmes in Seychelles.

On January 11, the UN launched an appeal to respond to the needs of countries affected by the tsunami. The appeal focused on supporting people in Indonesia, Maldives, Seychelles, Somalia and Sri Lanka from January until the end of June 2005 and called for nearly US $1 billion to fund the work of some 40 UN agencies and NGOs.