€28m pledged to help Sri Lanka's children

The UN children’s fund will spend at least €28m to help Sri Lankan children affected by the tsunami disaster to regain their future.

The money will be spent “to keep children alive, to get them back in school and give them hope for the future”, said Unicef Executive Director Carol Bellamy at the end of a two-day visit to Sri Lanka, where children accounted for 40% of the more than 30,000 dead.

Bellamy said she was worried about the future of the children affected by the disaster.

Saying that the present relief effort “must focus on keeping children alive,” she added: “This means clean water, adequate sanitation, basic nutrition and routine medical care.”

Unicef has set up offices at eight places in Sri Lanka to respond to the disaster.