President Alan García said Tuesday Peru will contribute $10 million to help Haiti’s reconstruction effort after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake devastated the impoverished Caribbean nation last January.
“Peru is able to contribute up to $10 million for the reconstruction of schools and (to establish) permanent drinking water in any areas that the president and the government of Haiti ask us to do so,” Radio Programas Peru quoted García as saying. He made the pledge for aid during the the Union of South American Nations, or Unasur, summit in Quito, Ecuador.
García also proposed Unasur create a $100 million fund for Haiti’s aid and that South America’s militaries create an engineering batallion to help with the country’s reconstruction efforts, state news agency Andina reported.
The Union of South American Nations is meeting in Quito to discuss how South American governments can provide reconstruction assistance to Haiti.
García is joined in Quito by Ecuador’s president and current head of Unasur, Rafael Correa, Haitian president René Préval, Colombian president Álvaro Uribe, and Paraguay’s president, Fernando Lugo as well as government representatives from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Guayana, Surinam, Venezuela, and Uruguay. The secretary general of the Organization of American States, José Miguel Insulza, and a delegate from the Inter-American Development Bank will also attend the meetings.
“I am convinced the nations of South America can help the people of Haiti who have suffered a horrendous tragedy in a determined and concentrated way as much with economic resources as with technical help, including engineers and doctors,” García said.
The epicentre of Haiti’s Jan. 12 earthquake was inland and only 10 miles from the capital, Port-au Prince. It was the most powerful quake to hit the region in more than 200 years. Communications were disrupted and numerous buildings collapsed, including the National Palace and a United Nations headquarters building, where more than 200 Peruvian soldiers of the United Natrions Mission in Haiti, or MINUSTAH, were stationed. Haiti’s prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, told CNN he estimated more than 200,000 people were killed and more than a million made homeless as a result of the earthquake.
Why send 10 million dollars when Cusco and surrounding communities need desperate help with the torrential rains and daily mudslides!!!
Garcia poses for photo ops and does not take care of our people.
Shame on the president and a government who did not help with the earquake 8.0 of 3 years ago, and now is diverting funds for Haiti, a corrupted country which is receiving millions from all over the world, that money will surely end up in swiss bank accounts, why do you think they are so poor???