JEDDAH, 8 January 2005 — The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is to send missions to Indonesia, the Maldives and Sri Lanka to provide relief assistance to the victims of the tsunami disaster.
Later, this would be followed by visits to assess and prepare reconstruction and rehabilitation projects, according to information made available to Arab News on Thursday.
IDB has pledged $500 million to the countries affected by tsunami — India, Somalia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Maldives and Sri Lanka.
The statement said that the announcement was made by the bank’s vice president who was attending the ASEAN leaders’ summit on the aftermath of tsunami in Jakarta on Thursday.
On Monday, the bank had announced in Jeddah an allocation of $10m to provide emergency relief to tsunami victims in the affected countries.
The $500m includes $10m. The amount would be used for relief operations and construction of devastated areas, transportation, health, and education. The bank would make arrangements with aid partners in the region to ensure quick disbursement.
It was explained that the bank would coordinate with other multilateral organizations as well as concerned governments, especially in the assessment of the damaged areas and formulation of suitable projects to meet the needs of the affected communities.
Like other multilateral banks, IDB would be able to quickly channel resources from ongoing operations and re-arrange the current work program of the affected member countries to respond to the new needs of reconstruction.
