Thai rice aid to be flown out on Feb 1

23/01/2010

Writer: Anucha Charoenpo and Thanida Tansubhapol

Pangkok Post News

A concert was held yesterday at the CentralWorld plaza to raise public donations to help quake-hit Haiti. The earthquake, which struck the country on Jan 12, is believed to have killed between 100,000 and 200,000 people. PAWAT LAOPAISARNTAKSIN.

The government will send its first aid shipment of 100 tonnes of rice to earthquake-ravaged Haiti on Feb 1, PM's Office Minister Virachai Virameteekul has revealed.

A Thai Airways International cargo plane will transport the rice and the airline will absorb the 21 million baht cost. The government has pledged a total of 20,000 tonnes of rice to assist relief efforts in Haiti.

Mr Virachai said the second Thai shipment of about 3,000 tonnes of rice would be sea-freighted to Haiti early next month, via the neighbouring

Dominican Republic. The Commerce Ministry is to organise the logistics and bear the cost of the shipment.

How and when the remaining 16,900 tonnes of rice would be shipped was yet to be decided by the committee overseeing the matter, said Mr Virachai, who runs a government centre tasked with helping Haiti's quake victims.

The minister yesterday called a committee meeting to review progress of the government's aid scheme to support victims of the Jan 12 earthquake.

About 15 million baht had been donated to the centre so far by members of the public, he said.

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