David
Sumberg MEP
Date: 03/01/2005
TSUNAMI: Euro MP urges councils to adopt recovery projects
A North West Euro MP is urging the region's local authorities to adopt recovery projects in a fellow municipal area devastated by the tsunami.
Conservative MEP David Sumberg said he is concerned that the hardest hit areas will take years to recover and will need long term financial support.
"Of course aid is needed now but we also have to look to the long-term reconstruction period,' he said. "History tells us that the world's gaze moves on quickly, making new fundraising harder for these crisis striken areas. I suggest each North West council offers to adopt, once matters are clearer, a project in a municipal district in the affected area.
"This could be organised via our own Local Government Association in conjunction with aid agencies or the UN, and there is no reason why this could not be copied in Europe and the US. Local volunteers would certainly come forward to run such fundraising efforts. In this manner we would play our part in much-needed longer-term relief."
Mr Sumberg said Conservative MEPs would be lobbying the European Commission hard for aid
."The European Parliament will be making the case with vigour before European Commissioner Louis Michel for maximum EU aid,' he said. "We must also ensure in future that the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal, in particular, have appropriate ocean floor level seismic warning systems in place to prevent such a tragedy ever occurring again."