Norway grants drought relief to Anuradhapura, Puttalam and Kurunegala

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 September 2004, 08:02 GMT]
The Norwegian government has decided to grant US $ 145.000 to FAO’s efforts to assist the Sri Lankans affected by the drought in Anuradhapura, Puttalam and Kurunegala, according to a press release from the Royal Embassy of Norway Wednesday.

Fulltext of the press release follows:

The Norwegian government supports drought relief in Anaradhapura, Puttalam and Kurunegala

The Norwegian government has decided to grant US $ 145.000 to FAO’s efforts to assist the Sri Lankans affected by the drought in Anaradhapura, Puttalam and Kurunegala.

The funds will go to implement FAO’s programme to help farmers who have lost two seasons of crops in the most severely affected areas of Sri Lanka. The most immediate need is to help the farmers replant their crop in the coming Maha season so that they will be able to revive their livelihood in the coming months. The grant will be spent on buying the seeds and fertilizers necessary for the replanting.

“We are pleased to provide immediate emergency assistance to the most affected farmers in these areas and we hope this also can contribute to improved emergency preparedness to reduce the destructive consequences of such natural disasters in the fututre”, said ambassador Hans Brattskar.