Minister Lenihan Announces €750,000 in Emergency Funding for Flooding in Mozambique

Conor Lenihan TD, Minister of State for Irish Aid and Human Rights, today announced disaster relief funding of €750,000 for the populations affected by severe flooding in Mozambique.

Ireland is one of the first responders to the Mozambique floods. The funding will be made available immediately to key Irish NGOs and international partners. Announcing the funding, Minister Lenihan said:

“Torrential rains and flooding since December 2006 have caused 80,000 people in Mozambique to flee their homes. Irish Aid support will ensure that these people receive urgently need food assistance and basic sanitation.

This funding will ensure that displaced communities have access to clean water, latrines and first aid. Irish Aid is committed to responding quickly and effectively to disasters.”

Note to Editors:

The Mozambique National Centre for Disaster Management estimates that 285,000 people in Mozambique may be affected by the current emergency if heavy rains continue, as is expected. Houses, roads, bridges, schools and crops have been destroyed.

Irish Aid responds to humanitarian disasters and emergency through its Emergency Humanitarian Assistance Fund, which stands at €90 million in 2007. This funding is generally provided to non-governmental organisations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and UN agencies.

In 1996 Ireland established a bilateral aid programme in Mozambique. It is now one of Ireland’s largest country programmes with a budget for 2007 of €31 million. The programme is designed to reduce poverty through broad-based economic growth, equitable social development and improved democratic governance. In addition to this bilateral aid programme, funding (€60 million over the five years 2006-2010) is provided to the Clinton Foundation for work in combatting HIV/AIDS in Mozambique.