Switzerland pledges €16m to tsunami victims

Switzerland will donate 25 million Swiss francs (€16.1m) in immediate aid to help victims of tsunamis in the Indian Ocean, President Joseph Deiss said tonight.

Deiss called a teleconference meeting of the country’s seven-member Cabinet to discuss the disaster and what Switzerland could do to help.

“The terrible earthquake on Boxing Day has shaken us all to the core,” Deiss told reporters after the meeting.

Ordinary Swiss already have donated 11 million francs (€7.1m) to the Chain of Happiness, a national charity which works with local organisations in disaster-affected countries. Swiss-based aid groups have also distributed medicines, food and other supplies, particularly in India and Sri Lanka.

The number of confirmed dead from Switzerland has risen by one, to 12, and about 850 tourists in the region are still unaccounted for, according to the Foreign Ministry.

“We have to fear that the death toll will climb considerably,” said Foreign Ministry official Peter Sutter.

The total number of Swiss dead will undoubtedly be higher than in previous natural disasters, Deiss added.

Deiss and incoming President Samuel Schmid, who takes over on January 1, are scheduled to attend a memorial ceremony for tsunami victims in Bern’s cathedral on January 5 – which has been declared a day of mourning in Switzerland.