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EU to provide Rs 1.6 billion in relief

The European Union has pooled in efforts for earthquake relief with an assistance of 38 million euro (approx Rs 1.6 billion) including material and financial resources.

Swedish Ambassador Johan Nordenfelt, representing the Presidency of the EU in New Delhi, presented a detailed account of the assistance from various countries to External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and informed him that all diplomatic missions are meeting regularly to assess the situation, a release from the European Commission Information Service in New Delhi said Wednesday.

The European Commissioner for External Relations, Chris Patten, while completing his five-day official visit to India Tuesday announced during his meetings with Singh and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha that the European Commission had committed an emergency aid of three million euros (Rs 125 million).

Patten said that beyond immediate relief, EU will be willing to envisage medium and long-term assistance for reconstruction of affected areas and disaster-preparedness.

The Greek government is sending medical staff and equipment and a Greek medical team from "Doctors of the World" is arriving in Bhuj Wednesday.

Two Air Force aircraft are to reach Ahmedabad Thursday carrying tents, equipment and medicine, a release from the Embassy of Greece here said adding its government is funding Greek NGOs with 285,000 US dollars to provide relief for earthquake victims.

PTI

The Complete Coverage | List of earthquake sites

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