S.Korea to send more aid to tsunami-hit countries
29/12/2004 15:29
The South Korean government will send additional US$1.6 million to the
earthquake and tsunami affected Asian countries, announced South Korean Foreign
Minister Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday. Seoul previously promised to donate
US$600,000 to help those countries' rehabilitation. "Four South Korean people
were killed by the strong tidal waves, while, 11 missing and 17 injured," Ban
told reporters in a year- end gathering on Wednesday. Ban also said his
ministry has received some 590 reports from family members who have lost contact
with their relatives traveling in the affected and nearby countries. The
Foreign Ministry decided to send diplomats to Thailand's famous resort Phuket
island to help its citizens there. Meanwhile, the ministry asked South
Koreans to refrain from traveling to the disaster-hit South Asian countries,
citing fears of disease outbreaks. Sunday's earthquake measuring 8.7 on the
Richter scale in Indonesia triggered devastating tsunamis which hit a number of
coastal nations across Southeast and Southern Asia and the death toll has
reached over 60,000 so far.
Xinhua
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