TERRA.WIRE
France allocates 15 million euros in aid for tsunami-hit nations
 PARIS (AFP) Dec 30, 2004
 France will provide 22.16 million eurosmillion dollars) in international aid for nations hit by the tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean over the weekend, as the overall death toll rose to nearly 81,000, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.

Of the total amount, 15 million euros will go to UN agencies including UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the World Food Program and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, as well as the International Red Cross.

A further 1.56 million euros in bilateral assistance was earmarked for "humanitarian aid and assistance to people" in the form of rescue and identification teams, specialists for psychological assistance, repatriations and maritime search patrols by sea and air.

Another 5.6 million euros are the French quota as part of an EU aid package, the ministry said.

The assistance will be provided for India, Indonesia, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

The government said earlier Wednesday that France would provide 15 million euros in international aid for nations hit by the disaster.

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier dropped off aid in Sri Lanka and Thailand Wednesday and returned with 12 badly hurt French nationals, Chirac's office said.

The government said France was coordinating European aid flowing to Sri Lanka and had added a navy patrol boat to its own contribution to the island state. Several French police officers were in the country helping identify the dead.

France has confirmed that at least 20 nationals died in the catastrophe, 19 of them in Thailand.

Also Wednesday, the debate about disaster relief given by rich nations after the Asian tsunami disaster added fuel to US-French rivalry with the head of the US government aid agency saying that France was not a big aid contributor.

"I'm not an expert in the French aid programme but they do not tend to be dominant figures in aid," Andrew Natsios, administrator of the US Agency for International Aid, told Fox television.

"The British are, the European Union is, the Japanese are, we are, the Canadians are, and in this case Australia, even though it's a relatively small country, has been very generous."

Questioned about France's response to the Indian Ocean disaster, Natsios said "The aid programme in France is not that big, one. And two, they tend to do loans and you don't make loans in an emergency."

The United States has given 35 million dollars (25.7 million euros) to the relief effort and is sending military aircraft and ships to help in the disaster operation.