"It is in America's interests to see that we help [the tsunami victims] recover quickly and that the scars heal as soon as possible," says Douglas Hartwick, senior coordinator of the tsunami reconstruction task force under the U.S. State Department.
The U.S. announced that its funds are ready for use in post-tsunami reconstruction efforts. Andrew Natsios, the admistrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, revealed that Washington released $901 million, which constitutes President George W. Bush?s supplementary budget for the December 26 disaster. But of the sum, only $525 million will support USAID?s four-year program for South Asia as $376 million had already gone to repaying the general disaster funds and Pentagon for their contribution to the tsunami relief work earlier. The agency plans to underwrite large-scale infrastructure projects such as the rebuilding of the 240-kilometer Banda Aceh-Meulaboh highway in Indonesia and a massive bridge at Arugum Bay in Sri Lanka. It will also finance small-scale loans, cash-for-work schemes and the training of construction workers. Natsios also said that the agency will launch programs that will promote accountability, noting that "billions of dollars are going to be spent in these countries and some of the systems … have not been in place in these countries to manage that amount of money in a reconstruction program of this complexity."
Source: U.S. set to begin spending $525 mln in tsunami aid (Reuters)