Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - 23:00
AFP News Briefs ListBritish queen makes Myanmar donation
Queen Elizabeth II has made a "significant" personal donation to the Myanmar relief effort, Buckingham Palace said Tuesday, as the first British relief flight headed to the cyclone-ravaged country.
The amount of money donated by the monarch was not disclosed but it is thought to have gone to Britain's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), an umbrella body of humanitarian agencies.
A palace spokeswoman said: "The queen has made a significant personal donation to the Burma appeal."
The first British aid flight left Dubai on Monday carrying enough shelter material for 43,000 families. Following a refuelling stop-over, it is due to arrive Wednesday. Five further British aid flights are expected to leave later this week.
Britain's Department for International Development said at least 10 times the aid flow being allowed to trickle into Myanmar by its ruling military junta was needed, along with the international expertise needed to distribute it.
The DFID team in Myanmar's main city Yangon was liaising with non-governmental organisations to assess their capacity to take over DFID-procured boats, the department added.
DFID was working with the World Food Programme to plug the gap in suitable lifting equipment to get flights unloaded quickly at Yangon airport, it said.
Britain has made five million pounds (10 million dollars, 6.3 million euros) available to help the relief effort.
Images
Queen Elizabeth (L), seen here in Ankara, has made a "significant" personal donation to the Myanmar relief effort, Buckingham Palace said Tuesday, as the first British relief flight headed to the cyclone-ravaged country.
© 2007 AFP Adem Altan
