Pam funding lifted to $2.5m

  • Murray McCully
Foreign Affairs

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully today announced an additional $1.5 million in Cyclone Pam relief, on top of the $1 million contributed yesterday.  He also announced two more NZ Defence Force (NZDF) relief flights will head to Vanuatu tomorrow.

“The funding announcement will see a further $1 million made available for New Zealand NGOs to respond to the immediate relief and recovery efforts on the ground, and another $500,000 for responding to requests from the Vanuatu Government for supplies and technical assistance,” Mr McCully says.

Tomorrow’s two aid flights follow on from this morning’s NZDF C-130 flight that transported eight tonnes of supplies and an initial NZ team to assess and assist on the ground. On Saturday, within hours of the disaster, an NZDF Orion P-30 based in Tonga made surveillance flights over Tuvalu to assess damage.

As well as further vital relief supplies, tomorrow’s NZDF flights will transport an NZDF joint reconnaissance team, health and logistics personnel, plus Red Cross and NGO personnel.