EU provides €300,000 aid to Tonga [1]
Tuesday, March 13, 2018 - 20:20
The European Commission today announced that it will be contributing €300 000 ($790,860 Pa’anga) in humanitarian funding to assist Tongans in their recovery from Cyclone Gita. The EU declared that the aid would focus on “…addressing the most pressing needs of the affected families through the provision of emergency shelter, access to safe drinking water, and food and livelihood assistance.”
The generous allocation follows an initial contribution of €100,000 by the European Union to Tonga immediately following Cyclone Gita’s destruction.
The European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides said in the announcement: “Our assessment on the ground indicates that there are still many humanitarian needs to be addressed,”
“This additional contribution from the EU underlines our solidarity with the people of Tonga, many of whom have lost their homes and sources of livelihoods as a result of the cyclone. The extra funding will contribute to helping them get back on their feet as soon as possible.”
According to the EU’s assessment, close to 5,000 people were displaced by Cyclone Gita in over 100 evacuation centres. Cyclone Gita damaged over 3 000 homes, 10% of which were completely destroyed.