ADB Provides US$3 Million for Merapi Victims

Jakarta, The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has provided US$3 million for victims of the recent Mt Merapi eruptions in Central Java which caused damage to human settlements and forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate.

ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda in a press release made available to ANTARA here on Saturday said the bank would do whatever it can to support the government in providing temporary shelters for the victims and meet their other important needs.

The ADB assistance would among other things be used to normalize the functions of public facilities such as schools, health care centers, water and sanitation infrastructure.

The assistance would also be used to design a cash-aid-for-work scheme for evacuees.

More than 300 people were killed and over 400 thousand others were forced to evacuate as a result of the volcano eruptions last month.

Most of the evacuees had by early December returned to their respective homes after Mt Merapi`s danger status was officially lowered.

The Geological Disaster Mitigation and Volcanology Center lowered the danger status of MT Merapi on December 3, 2010 from the highest (red) to the alert level.