NEW Zealand has increased its relief assistance with a further $7.6 million.
Its foreign affairs minister Murray McCully announced this, Tuesday.
The assistance will go towards relief supplies, support response efforts by the Honiara City Council and to help respond to other needs in areas such as water, health or roading as assessments come in.
“Funding will also be available to New Zealand non-government organisations (NGOs) with partners on the ground to support ongoing relief and early recovery efforts,” Mr McCully said.
This latest assistance comes at the back of an initial $1.9 million New Zealand offered on April 4 to provide immediate relief through Oxfam and World Vision in Solomon Islands to distribute relief supplies to evacuation centres.
On April 7 a New Zealand military aircraft delivered emergency supplies including tarpaulins, water containers and medical supplies to Honiara.
The aircraft also transported disaster response specialists from the New Zealand Defence Force, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the New Zealand Red Cross, NGOs, and a medical specialist to support the National Referral Hospital and assess needs.
New Zealand Police on deployment as part of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) are also assisting with relief efforts.
This latest announcement brought New Zealand’s total contribution to the relief efforts to approximately $9.5 million to date, including the provision of relief supplies.
