Australia pledges aid for US hurricane victims

Australia will send $10m (€6.1m) and a team of 20 disaster experts to the US to help with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the prime minister John Howard said today.

“There should not be an assumption that because America is the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world, this isn’t a major challenge and a major crisis,” he said.

The money will go to the US Red Cross and be spent on “all the sorts of things that are provided to people all around the world when they’re suddenly rendered destitute,” Howard said.

Yesterday, Australia announced plans to send two experts but increased the offer after discussions with US authorities about the disaster that has engulfed the Gulf Coast.

“We have been in touch overnight, Australian time, with the Federal Emergency Management Authority, which is the key body in the US co-ordinating relief, and we have offered a special emergency team of up to 20 experts from Australia which we will send to the US immediately in order to help,” Howard said.

A close ally of US President George Bush, Howard said it was extraordinary that it might take eight or nine months before people could be moved back into New Orleans.

He said the donation to the US disaster recovery underscored Australia’s close relationship with the United States and was a recognition of Washington’s generosity toward other countries stricken by disasters in the past.

Sri Lanka’s government today pledged $25,000 (€20,000) in aid for Hurricane Katrina victims, and urged Sri Lankan doctors in the United States to offer their services.

Sri Lanka said it will donate the money to the American Red Cross for immediate assistance.

The US was one of the countries that rushed aid when Sri Lanka was hit by last December’s tsunami, which killed more than 31,000 people there and affected one million more.