Via Yle Uutiset: Tuomioja: Finland preparing aid for Typhoon Haiyan victims.
Finland is preparing to send aid to victims of the Haiyan typhoon in the Philippines, says Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja. His department is also trying to contact some fifty Finnish citizens known to have been in the path of the typhoon. The storm was one of the most powerful on record to make landfall.
Typhoon Haiyan has wrought devastation in the Philippines since it hit the country on Friday. Finland is ready to join relief efforts, according to Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja.
"There have been no direct requests for aid, but we have already started preparing and have made some decisions," Tuomioja told Yle’s Radio Suomi.
At this stage, Finland is planning to send expert assistance to the disaster area. Tuomioja says that the Red Cross is the main organisation that is able to react and send aid quickly.
Tuomioja says that some fifty Finns were in the areas worst-affected by the storm, and of those only a handful have been contacted so far.
