OIC donates US $118 Mn to Tsunami victims

The Jeddah-based Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has allocated an aid of US $118 million to the Asian countries hit by the Tsunami on December 26, announced OIC chairmanship.

Syed Hamid Albar, Foreign Minister of Malaysia, which currently chairs the 57-member OIC, also announced that the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) pledged to grant low interests loans of US $500 for the reconstruction of the devastated regions, said the Malaysian press agency Bernama.

Aid donations have been unprecedented to help victims of the earthquake and tidal wave that swept across the Indian Ocean.

The Tsunami devastated coastlines in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India and reached as far as Somalia on the east African coast.

The death toll in the Tsunami exceeded 157.000 victims and could reach as high as 200,000.