Colombia has been promised almost $8 million in foreign aid to deal with the emergency situation caused by this year’s extended rainy season that killed more than 150 and left more than 1.3 million victims.
According to Diego Andres Molano Aponte, director of national aid agency Accion Social, the money was promised by the United Nations and the European Union and a number of individual countries.
Top donor is the United Nations will provide $6.25 million aid through its agencies in the country. Spain donated $500,000, the European Union $400,000, Switzerland $300,000, South Korea $200,000 and the United States $100,000.
According to Molano, the funds are an initial and not final response to the emergency and will be used to provide immediate help to flood and landslide victims.
In Colombia the Red Cross and the Colombian government have started a campaign to persuade individuals and the private sector to donate money. The government itself says it has reached its limits and is not able to assess the emergency because of the size. According to its government Colombia needs at least $532 million to adequately provide immediate aid and rebuild lands, houses and roads that have been destroyed.
The country borrowed $150 million from the World Bank to be able to provide assistance to victims of the floods and landslides.
According to meteorlogists, this year’s rainy season is the worst in 60 years and can last until late in the first quarter of 2011.
