3. - usaid

The Philippines earthquake on August 2, 1968 received the most publicity.
There were 559 victim, 326 of whom died when the Ruby Towers apartment
building in Manila collapsed.
FIVE YEAR U.
S. INF'UT FOR FOREIGN D I S m
Fran Fiscal 1965 through 1969, the United States has assisted in 251 foreign
disasters. The total value of that aid is $326 million. This consisted
of $37.7 million f'rm U. S. voluntary agencies and the remainder frm the
U. S. Government, m y by the Agency for International Development.
Ekeakdown of AID contributions is: $15 million fran the contingency f'und;
$48.3 million frm AID Project/Supporting Assistance Funds; $8.3 million
fran use of US-owned local currencies; and P. L. 480 food valued at $213
million. Other U. S. Government agencies include DOD (Army, Navy, A ~ P
Force), ESSA, U. S. Geological Survey, USPHS, who gave professional,
technical and relief assistance not directly reimbursed by AID valued at
$3.6 million. Average annual U. S. assistance for foreign disasters is
$65 million.
ComurIONs CYMER THAN THE UNITED STATES
Involvement of other nations and international organizations in foreign
. disasters is increasing. This is evident f'ran AID/DRC records which
show that their assistance jumped f'rm $3.6 million in 1965 to $9.6
million in 1966, to $16.5 million in 1968, to $95.5 million in 1969. The
1967 contribution of $173 million was the only year in which other nations
exceeded that of the United States alone. ?his was due to the India Famine
and Middle East Conflict. For Fiscal 1969, the $95.5 million recorded for
other nations and international organizations is almost entirely due to
the Nigeria Civil Strife and the five destructive disasters in the Near
East/South Asia Region.
'Ihe extent of aid fl?am outside is based on the ability of the affected
country to provide for its own disaster victims through use of resources
withln the country. In less developed countries certain disaster supplies
are not available or cost is prohibitive. The fact is that countries
prefer to do as much as they can on the* own. This is proven by the
AID/DRC records. In 1968 self-help amounted to over $607 million and in
1969 to more than $130 million. The 1967 record of $3 billion in selfhelp
is largely due to the action taken by the Italian Government after the
Florence Floods.
Organizations and Program
There is evidence that several new disaster organizations and disaster
preparedness program may have been formed by some countries as a result of
recent disasters and by encouragement f'rm AID. Disaster pre-planning
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