EU chief vows aid for Pacific disasters

October 01, 2009 07:01:44 AM

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EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Wednesday pledged the bloc would help victims of "the terrible natural disasters" in the Pacific region in recent days.

"The EU and its member states are mobilising to provide relief and have already earmarked a considerable amount for aid to the region," he said.

"I am greatly saddened by the news of the terrible natural disasters that have struck the Pacific over the past few days," Solana added.

"My thoughts are with the injured and the families of the victims."

Hundreds have been killed by two devastating earthquakes and a typhoon that have torn through the Pacific.

A massive earthquake shook the Indonesian island of Sumatra earlier Wednesday, killing at least 75 people and reducing homes and buildings to rubble. Officials fear the death toll could reach 1,000.

Typhoon Ketsana battered Southeast Asia on Wednesday, blowing away villages in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The regional death toll from the typhoon, which submerged the Philippine capital at the weekend, currently stands at 331.

And on Tuesday, towering tsunamis triggered by an underwater quake slammed into Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga, killing at least 113 people.

The EU has already released four million euros (5.8 million dollars) to help victims of Typhoon Ketsana, and initial aid of 150,000 euros for Samoa.

The Spanish government said on Wednesday it would give one million euros to the Philippines for those affected by the typhoon.