ADB releases $325m of loans to fix tsunami damage

ADB releases $325m of loans to fix tsunami damage

Doug Wong Bloomberg/Hong Kong

The Asian Development Bank will make as much as US$325 million of existing and new loans available immediately to Indonesia, the Maldives and Sri Lanka to finance reconstruction of areas devastated by the Dec. 26 tsunamis.

An estimated $175 million of the funds will be redirected from existing loans in the three countries, and as much as an additional $150 million of new lending can be drawn immediately from the Asian Development Fund, the bank said in a statement today.

The bank said its objective is "rapid disbursement during the coming critical two to four months."

Sri Lanka and Indonesia suffered the most deaths as a result of the tsunamis triggered by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake off the northern coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

The death toll from the earthquake and tsunamis in Asia and Africa has passed 120,000 people, with about 80,000 known deaths so far in Indonesia, and more than 28,000 in Sri Lanka.

"This is an unprecedented disaster and we are moving quickly to assist these countries in their hour of need," said the ADB's President Tadao Chino in a statement yesterday.

The World Bank separately is releasing $250 million to aid victims of the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunamis, the United Nations said yesterday.

The ADB said it has bank teams working to identify priority operations and to lay the basis for more extensive reconstruction work during the next six months.

"The immediate funding identified so far represents only an initial contribution," the bank said. "Significantly increased resources will be available as these assessments proceed."