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30 September 2009
PRESS RELEASEE
MICHAEL LAWS
MAYOR
WANGANUI DISTRICT COUNCIL
WANGANUI COUNCIL INITIATES SAMOA TSUNAMI APPEAL: WILL ALSO LOOK AT ADOPTING-A-VILLAGE FOR ONGOING ASSISTANCE
Mayor Michael Laws today said that the Wanganui District Council will initiate a district-wide appeal to assist the victims and villages affected by today’s Samoan earthquake and tsunami tragedy.
The council has taken proactive steps in the recent past with appeals and contributions to assist victims of the Boxing Day Tsunami, the Northland floods and the Victorian bushfire tragedies.
“ I have today asked Cr Ray Stevens – the co-coordinator of these previous appeals - to take an overview role and to liaise with all the necessary agencies.
Already he has determined that Friday 16 October will be the street appeal day.”
Mayor Laws said that the council had been making progress towards the idea of ‘adopting a village’ in Samoa for the purpose of dispensing ongoing aid and assistance. A new International Relations Committee was in the pipeline and ready to be approved at the council’s next full meeting on 19 October.
Foreign Affairs minister Murray McCully had suggested the idea to Mayor Laws in a recent meeting – of establishing closer civic and Pacific links as a practical expression of foreign aid.
“ Today I will be meeting with local Samoan leaders to progress that discussion and to seek their ongoing advice as to how best to help. We know that the Wanganui community – which has been extraordinarily generous in the past – will be behind this concept.
“ When we were in trouble – after the storms, flooding and damage of 2004 – we received extraordinary assistance from other councils and the public. This will be our way of repaying some of that goodwill and generosity.”
ENDS
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