Vatican City, Jul 13, 2005 / 22:00 pm
During a speech to the United Nations Economic and Social Council yesterday, the Vatican’s Archbishop Celestino Migliore stressed that the unprecedented aid and support sent to areas ravaged by last December’s tsunami, “must not be squandered.”
The archbishop, who is permanent observer to the U.N. discussed the aid given to those affected by the catastrophe and the task of rebuilding the countries involved during his speech. The U.N. council held a special session which looked at "special economic, humanitarian and disaster relief assistance."
Archbishop Migliore praised the Holy See and other charitable organizations for their swiftness in responding to the December 26th disaster.
"Dozens of Catholic agencies quickly followed this up,” he said, “with projects for the reconstruction of homes and schools" in the countries affected. "It is estimated that around 650 million dollars has been made available by agencies related to the Holy See to the peoples affected by the tsunami."