Canada, Spain and Azerbaijan provide aid to flood victims

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Canada, Spain and Azerbaijan announced Thursday their contributions to the overseas aid effort to assist the victims of Jakarta's floods.

The Canadian ambassador to Indonesia, John Holmes, said his country would donate Rp 382 million in aid, to be channeled through the Canadian International Development Agency, the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) and the Circle of Women's Alternative Education (Kapal Perempuan), to provide urgently needed food and emergency supplies.

"On behalf of all Canadians I wish to extend our sympathies to the families and friends of those who lost their lives, and to those communities affected by the flooding," Holmes said in a statement.

He added that Canada would consider providing further assistance should the situation worsen and the Indonesian government issue a request for international assistance.

"Canada is committed to helping Indonesia in times of crisis as we did in the aftermath of the tsunami in Aceh and the earthquake in Yogyakarta," Holmes said.

The Canadian Embassy said that the Rp 229 million contribution to PMI would allow the organization to distribute hygiene kits to some 2,200 families across the city while the Rp 153 million aid to Kapal Perempuan would be used to provide food and other relief to households in Klender, East Jakarta, and Kalibata, South Jakarta.

Spain also announced Thursday it would contribute 100,000 euros (around US$129,000), mainly for drinking water and sanitation, to be distributed through PMI.

Spain's Queen Sofia, along with the country's State Minister of International Cooperation, Leire Paj¡n, announced the aid after inspecting flood damage in the capital.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan's embassy in Jakarta announced it handed over food parcels, drinking water and medicine to flood victims directly through the PMI on Thursday.

The Azerbaijani Embassy offered its condolences to the Indonesian government and people affected by the Jakarta floods, and said it would quickly send emergency relief to the victims.

Scores of countries have so far contributed to the flood relief effort.

On Wednesday, the European Union announced that it would contribute Rp 6.6 billion while Germany said it would donate Rp 2.9 billion (not Rp 2.9 million as reported in our story on Thursday on Page 12).

On Tuesday, the Netherlands, Japan and Switzerland donated US$1.29 million, Rp 1.1 billion and US$50,000 respectively while on Monday, Australia and the U.S. contributed over Rp 1 billion and US$100,000 respectively.

The Netherlands embassy announced that Ambassador Nikolaos van Dam would hand over the first 20 boats on Friday to Jakarta police as part of its aid to the flood victims.