Since all the business ordered for today has been disposed of, I am proceeding to the Adjournment Debate forthwith. I now call on Deputy Nora Owen who has given me notice of her intention to ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs to make emergency aid available for the victims of the typhoon in Bangladesh. Deputy Owen has some five minutes to make her case and the Minister five minutes to reply.
Adjournment Debate. - Victims of Bangladesh Typhoon.
Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle. I would like to make an urgent appeal to the Minister to ask the Government to give immediate emergency aid to the people of Bangladesh who have been devastated by a typhoon on Sunday-Monday of this week. I would also like the Minister to take up the case as a matter of urgency at EC level. More than seven million people have been made homeless by this typhoon and while there is no confirmation of the number of deaths we understand that in excess of 50,000 lives may have been lost.
The seven million people who have been made homeless are from the poorest areas of Chittagong and the islands that were devastated. The immediate need is for shelter materials such as heavy plastic sheeting, canvas and wood. Already both Trócaire and Concern, two Irish agencies, have given aid to the region and Concern have sent some of their team to work in distributing the aid.
Clear information is not yet available of the full extent of the damage and the number of deaths but the area of Chittagong where the typhoon hit is densely populated with the poorest of people in the poorest of houses. I have a fax that came from Caritas in Bangladesh which estimated that 80 per cent of all dwellings in that area were destroyed and that thousands of cattle, poultry and crops have been destroyed. It is estimated that the cost of the damage is 1.5 billion US dollars.
There is a great fear among those who made contact with the country that once the water supplies become contaminated — and contaminated they will become — diseases will spread rapidly and more lives will be lost.
To put the situation in that country into context I would like to tell Deputies that the population of Bangladesh, a country only marginally bigger than this island, is 110 million. If we had a similar scale of population per square foot our population would be 75 million people. Three-quarters of the country is less than ten feet above sea level and in 1988 alone floods killed 10,000 people. The average income per capital is £100 per annum. Deputies will see that it is not possible for them to make good the damage from their own resources and bring some quality of life back to the people.
I am deeply concerned that the entire international effort to help the Kurdish people might take away somewhat from the efforts to help the Bangladeshi people after this terrible tragedy. I should like to ask the Government, and I know the Minister is deeply concerned about this too, to take the lead both here and at EC level and highlight the moral responsibility of all developed countries to tackle what is essentially the unlying underdevelopment of Bangladesh and other countries like it. When natural disasters hit those countries they are less able to take the effects of it which are far more catastrophic. I make my appeal to the Minister in regard to this.
I am thankful to Deputy Owen for giving me this opportunity of addressing this very important issue. The Government are very concerned by the reports of the deaths and devastation caused by the cyclone which hit Bangladesh just after midnight on Monday, 29 April.
The cyclone was very severe with winds of over 200 miles per hour and massive tidal waves. Devastation is widespread and there are fears that the death toll may rise to tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands may have been made homeless.
The centre of the storm hit the south eastern coast of Bangladesh between Chittagong and Cox's Bazar. These areas, together with Pataukhali, Noakhali, Bhola and Barguna have been the worst affected. The destruction of communications links has made it difficult to fully assess the scale of the disaster as yet.
Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is unable to deal with this crisis and the Government of Bangladesh have appealed to the international community for assistance. The United Nations Disaster Relief Organisation (UNDRO) has begun co-ordinating relief efforts. Irish agencies are also responding and an application for assistance has been received today by me from one agency — Concern — and others are expected.
I have earmarked £200,000 for disaster relief for this crisis and have made the following allocations today. The Concern application has been assessed and the amount sought, which is £75,000, is being provided towards their programme of relief based in Chittagong and Feni. Under this programme, food, clothing, plastic sheltering, water purification tablets and some basic household utensils will be provided to 9,000 families according to needs. A further grant of £50,000 is being made to UNDRO in respect of UN agency operations.
As has been said in relation to previous disasters, the Government are always ready to respond to the best of their ability. No one wants to delay assistance for a moment from the victims of disaster but in the chaos created by a major emergency, it can be very difficult to organise the delivery of relief. It is important to ensure that the agencies seeking funding have worked out carefully how they can reach disaster victims with the necessary aid. The agencies are very conscious of this and are constantly seeking to improve their methods.