Madrid, Spain, Jan 12, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Church officials in Spain said this week donations sent to tsunami victims in Southeast Asia surpassed 13 million dollars, which puts Church donations twice as high as aid promised by the Spanish socialist government.
According to the Spanish daily, “La Razón,” the Church in Spain now leads the list of institutions that have already sent economic aid to victims of the tragedy. Although the Socialist government of President Rodríguez Zapatero has promised 70 million dollars, only 6 million has been sent. The other 48 million will be treated as soft loans, which the countries will be required to repay with interest, or else purchase Spanish-made products.
In the wake of the December 26 tsunami, diverse organizations of the Church in Spain moved quickly to obtain assistance for victims. Among them was Caritas, which has currently raised more than 9 million dollars.
This figure is expected to increase when collections taken from five thousand parishes are added.