02 September 2005
World Community Unites in Hurricane Katrina Recovery Effort
Offers of aid pour in to help flood-ravaged U.S. states
By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- The international community has united with outpourings of sympathy and offers of aid to the United States to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina and of the flooding that has developed into one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history.
When Hurricane Katrina struck the southeastern United States August 29, it inflicted widespread damage and prompted the largest domestic relief effort in U.S. history. (See related article.)
The United States has expressed its readiness to receive aid, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying that "no offer than can help alleviate the suffering of the people in the afflicted areas will be refused."
The offers of aid to the victims of Katrina have come from more than 20 countries and international organizations.
Sri Lanka, still recovering from a massive tsunami that struck in December 2004, has joined those wishing to help the United States and has urged Sri Lanka-born physicians now living in the United States to volunteer to treat hurricane victims.
Government officials in Indonesia and Thailand, also hard hit by the 2004 tsunami, say they are determining how they best can offer help.
Meanwhile, Germany and other European nations say they are ready to use their own emergency oil reserves to help alleviate the crisis.
Other offers of aid include disaster assistance teams from countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras and Jamaica. Venezuela has offered humanitarian aid and fuel, while the small Caribbean island nation of Dominica has offered 200 members of its special forces to work alongside the U.S. National Guard.
The Organization of American States (OAS) expressed its condolences and solidarity with the American people, made a $25,000 contribution from its emergency fund and encouraged donations to the American Red Cross. The OAS has created a special fund to receive donations from its member states to aid the victims of the U.S. natural disaster.
OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza said "our hearts reach out" to the hurricane victims "as we learn more and more about the deep impact of personal loss, displacement of persons and the ordeal they have been forced to endure during this moment of hardship."
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said September 2 that the United Nations is offering all the assistance it can provide to help the American people recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.
"The American people -- who have always been the most generous in responding to disasters in other parts of the world -- have now themselves suffered a grievous blow," Annan said. "I know that I speak for the whole world in offering them my heartfelt sympathy, and any assistance that the United Nations can give."
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said September 2 that the offers of aid from the world community would boost U.S. efforts to recover from the historic storm.
The people of the United States "should be heartened by the fact that the world is reaching out to America at a time of need," McCormack said.
For additional information, see Hurricane Katrina.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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