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SA to attend tsunami summit
03/01/2005 16:14 - (SA)
Pretoria - South Africa is sending a delegation to Indonesia to attend an emergency summit opening on Thursday to co-ordinate aid for tsunami-hit countries, a minister said on Monday.
The delegation led by Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang will attend the summit of world leaders to discuss aid to tsunami victims and the setting up of an Indian Ocean tsunami warning system to prevent further tragedies.
"It will give us an opportunity to interact with officials from other countries on the type of assistance we will be giving," Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi told reporters in Pretoria on Monday.
"We will be able to determine the needs for a medium and long-term reconstruction programme," said Mufamadi.
The summit in Jakarta is to help millions left homeless and hungry from the disaster wrought by the tsunamis on December 26. The death toll from the tragedy on Monday reached close to 145 000.
The government has set up a task team comprised of officials from the departments of health, social development, local government, foreign affairs and water affairs to co-ordinate relief, Mufamadi said.
"We will also liaise with other countries in the SADC (Southern African Development Community) region to see if others in the region will be attending the conference."
Mufamadi said South Africa had received official requests for help from Thailand, the Maldives and Sri Lanka and was also trying to establish how it could assist other affected countries including those in other parts of Africa.
The foreign ministry said seven South Africans had been confirmed dead in Thailand while seven more were missing in Thailand and two others were missing in Myanmar.
Additionally, some 1 137 South Africans who were in the region about the time of the quake have not yet contacted the foreign ministry to say that they are safe. Another 1 820 have been located.
- AFP
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