Germany leads way with €510m aid pledge
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder stepped up the German government’s pledge of financial aid to tsunami victims to €510m today as European nations moved to step up help to the devastated region.
Germany had previously pledged €20m, but Schroeder said once the short-term effects of the tsunami were taken care of, the region would need much more help in rebuilding its infrastructure with concrete projects over time.
“Naturally, they won’t be realised overnight,” Schroeder said.
Schroeder’s pledge represents the largest firm pledge of aid from any single country.
Schroeder said the money would be made available over a minimum of three and maximum of five years.
“The whole German nation has solidarity with the people of the region and we are all proud of the German people’s readiness to help,” the chancellor said
The pledge pushes Japan to second on the donor list, with its commitment to provide €377.3m. The United States is third, with its pledge of €263.9m.
Britain has pledged €70.9m but British Prime Minister Tony Blair said today that his government would step up that contribution to “several hundred million pounds”.
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