Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) Provides Support

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Washington, DC, June 23, 2008 - The Global Facility for Disaster Reduction
and Recovery (GFDRR) has agreed to provide grant finance to support the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to strengthen its capacity to
rapidly respond to disasters throughout the region - the initial focus will
be on helping to assess the impact and damage caused by Cylone Nargis in
Myanmar.

A grant of $850,000 has been made to support the ASEAN Secretariat in
responding to Cyclone Nargis, which has left 77,738, people dead and 55,917
people still missing. ASEAN is currently leading teams of international
experts in conducting the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment, in partnership with
the United Nations and supported by Bank technical staff. The grant will be
used for training in damage and loss assessment techniques, technical
assistance in disaster recovery, and exchange on regional experiences
amongst ASEAN members, such as post-Tsunami community-based recovery
approaches.

The GFDRR is a partnership of Australia, Canada, Denmark, European
Commission, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Norway,
USAID/OFDA, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, UNISDR and the World Bank.

It aims to help countries undertake disaster risk and climate change impact
assessments, to formulate and implement risk mitigation strategies and
reduce the impact of natural disasters or recover from the effects. The
support to ASEAN is part of a first tranche of contributions received from
Australia and Sweden.

Source: IFI-Burma