LIZ LYNNE: ASIA QUAKE SURVIVORS STILL NEED AID

12.00.00am GMT Tue 31st Jan 2006

Aid is still desperately needed to rebuild shattered communities more than three months after the South Asian earthquake, Liz Lynne, MEP for the West Midlands, warned today.

The October 8 earthquake, which killed an estimated 87,000 people, also devastated local infrastructure. Many roads were badly damaged in the quake, and have been repeatedly blocked by landslides or heavy snow. With survivors now facing a harsh winter, health workers are warning there may be many more fatalities from cold-related diseases such as pneumonia.

Pledges to the Disaster Emergency Committee's Asia Quake Appeal recently topped £50 million, but charities are still appealing for more donations.

Liz Lynne, who is a member of the European Parliament's delegation on South Asia and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and President of the Liberal Democrats Friends of Kashmir, said "The Asian earthquake may be yesterday's news in the UK, but in the affected region, survivors face a future of poverty. I know many of my constituents will have friends and family in the region, and they will have heard for themselves how much is still to be done."

"As many as 1.1 million people in the North Western Frontier Province and Azad Jammu Kashmir may have lost jobs as a result of the earthquake. That accounts for nearly fifty percent of total employed labour before the disaster. If we take into account those dependent on an employed person, that's an additional 2.4 million facing a daily struggle for subsistence."

"Responding to my letter, the European Commissioner for Development informed me that the 25 million euros made available by the EU in December began financing new humanitarian aid programmes from 1 January."

"This is welcome news, but the international community must ensure that aid efforts are effectively coordinated and transparent."

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

1. To donate to the Asia Quake Appeal, visit www.dec.org.uk,. telephone 0870 60 60 900 or send a cheque to PO Box 999, London EC3A 3AA.

2. In November, Liz Lynne co-authored an urgency resolution in the European Parliament on access to humanitarian aid in Kashmir.

3. Liz Lynne has also tabled Written Questions to the European Commission and written to the Commissioners for Development and External Relations in an effort to speed up the European Union's response.