Nearly Bt10 billion given out to victims
More than Bt10 billion has poured in to assist victims of the tsunami in the past two years, the permanent secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister said yesterday.
Jullayuth Hirunyawasit said the money had been distributed through local state agencies to victims in all six affected provinces. He was confident that there was no corruption in the government's assistance programme. He said the Office of the Prime Minister still had Bt92 million left over for aid. According to Jullayuth, if no agency asks for more assistance, the Bt92 million will be transferred to the government's relief fund to help victims of other disasters. He said the Education Ministry recently asked for Bt25 million to assist more than 5,000 tsunami orphans and the request would be considered by the relevant sub-committee soon. Jullayuth said that the Bt10.74-billion financial aid came from three sources: Bt1.35 billion in donations from the public to the Office of the Prime Minister, Bt7.89 billion reserved budget of the government, and Bt1.5 billion allocated by the committee on decentralisation. The Finance Ministry also provided Bt59.5 billion in low-interest loans to victims. Meanwhile in Phuket, a white wall with the names and national flags of the countries whose citizens died in the tsunami has been built at Mai Khao cemetery, which was used to keep and identify the bodies of tsunami victims. Sarawuth Sisakhukham, president of Mai Khao Tambon Administration Organisation, said the wall would be a place for relatives of the victims to commemorate their loved ones.
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