| SINGAPORE'S AID EFFORTS >>> |
| Wong Siew Ying tells us of the United Nations
acceptance of Singapore's offer to set up a UN Regional
Coordination Centre here to coordinate relief efforts
to stricken areas. |
Singapore has sent humanitarian aid and disaster relief
teams to the tsunami-stricken areas, and it is set to
play a larger role when the UN Regional Coordination Centre
is set up in the days ahead.
This centre will see an influx of UN staff and it is
likely to be a long-term infrastructure to help reconstruction
efforts.
Said Andrew Tan of the MFA, "We're glad that the
UN has accepted our offer, it will give us a greater
role in helping to relieve the congestion that is now
building up in many of these areas .... The key right
now is to make sure this aid gets down to the people
in the remote areas so that public health disaster can
be averted."
The Singapore government had earlier announced it was
opening its air and naval bases as additional staging
and logistics points for bringing relief supplies to
Indonesia.
John Budd, UNICEF head of communications in Indonesia,
said, "The Singapore government's military response
to the emergency in Aceh has been nothing less than
outstanding. It has done a phenomenal job; all the aid
agencies and the UN are very grateful for the enormous
and fast response the military in Singapore brought
to bear on this disaster."
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