Emergencies Ministry aircraft brought an overall of over 64 tons of aid to Sri Lanka

Sunday, April 2, 2023

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Russia has delivered close to 150 metric tons of humanitarian aid to the Southeast Asian countries hit by the earthquake and giant waves, Yury Brazhnikov, the director of the Emergencies Ministry's international activities department, told reporters on Monday. "From December 27 to January 10 Emergencies Ministry aircraft brought an overall of over 64 tons of aid to Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia, while Defence Ministry planes delivered more than 83 metric tons of aid," said Mr. Brazhnikov. Mr. Brazhnikov said Russia would continue supplying humanitarian aid to those countries in the next few days. The Emergencies Ministry and Defence Ministry, for example, will send eight planes to Southeast Asia this week. They will bring food to Sri Lanka, thereby meeting the country's request. Russia also intends to provide medical aid to victims of the tsunamis. The Defence Ministry is deploying a mobile hospital on Sumatra, Indonesia. "An Emergencies Ministry hospital has been prepared for transportation to Sri Lanka. Besides, the Russian Health Ministry's sanitary and anti-epidemic brigades are prepared to fly for Thailand," said Mr. Brazhnikov. Mr. Brazhnikov said over the first week following the tragedy Russia had provided humanitarian aid worth about $2 million. Today, the overall amount of aid is much higher. International experts said the Southeast Asian countries needed aid worth an overall of $4 billion. International organisations and banks will allocate half of that amount, the other half will be provided by the United States, Germany, Japan and other countries. "Russia is the leader in terms of targeted assistance to the victims," said Mr. Brazhnikov.

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