The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government has approved two grants from the Disaster Relief Fund, totaling 5.63 million HK dollars (722,000 U.S. dollars), for relief projects for cyclone victims in Myanmar, a government spokesman said Friday.
The HKSAR government accepted the advice of the Disaster Relief Fund Advisory Committee and made the approval.
Announcing the grants on Friday, the HKSAR government spokesman said that the committee hoped the two grants -- 5 million HK dollars (641,000 U.S. dollars) to World Vision Hong Kong and 630, 000 HK dollars(80,800 U.S. dollars) to Medecins Sans Frontieres -- would help provide relief to cyclone victims in Myanmar.
"To ensure that the money will be used for the designated purposes, the two relief agencies have been asked to submit evaluation reports and audited accounts on the use of the grants after the relief projects have been completed," the spokesman said.
Tropical cyclone Nargis, which occurred over the Bay of Bengal, hit five Myanmar divisions and states -- Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago, Mon and Kayin on May 2-3, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon suffered the heaviest casualties and massive infrastructure damage.
The deadly cyclone has killed 77,738 people and left 55,917 missing and 19,359 injured so far, according to the official statistics.
(Xinhua News Agency May 30, 2008)
