The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) yesterday allocated $10 million for emergency relief to tsunami victims in Indonesia, India, the Maldives, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Somalia. The amount is only a portion of the aid package that the IDB's management intends to put before its Board of Executive Directors (BED) for approval during the BED meeting at the bank's headquarters here, that is scheduled to be held from Feb. 5 to 10, according to a press statement published today. The other part of the assistance would be for the reconstruction of the infrastructure, especially in the health, education, water, energy and transport sectors. The bank has also dispatched a mission to the affected areas to assess the urgent needs of the population and distribute relief material in coordination with the competent bodies in the concerned countries. On Sunday, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) had appealed for increased help for tsunami victims in keeping with the spirit of Islamic and international solidarity. In a statement, Secretary-General Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu urged all member states, humanitarian organizations in the Muslim world, and the subsidiary institutions and organs of the OIC to speed up assistance to the victims in the disaster-stricken countries, and to make every effort to provide maximum aid possible. He assured full cooperation of the general secretariat to coordinate Islamic relief efforts so that help could be channeled faster to all those who need it. Meanwhile, the Consulate General of Indonesia has expressed its gratitude to all parties in the Kingdom, which have extended humanitarian relief to tsunami victims in the province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and North Sumatra. The consulate said yesterday that it had opened a special account (101-34914010100) in the name of Korpri Indonesian Consulate General at the National Commercial Bank's main branch in Jeddah for the use of donors.
