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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Mr. George Foulkes): Torrential rain over the last week has caused serious flooding and mudslides in the 10 coastal states of northern Venezuela, including the capital, Caracas, and particularly Vargas state. Flooding began on 13 December but was at its most devastating last Thursday when mudslides struck in the early hours of the morning, catching many shanty town dwellers asleep.
The latest reports from the Government of Venezuela indicate that about 7,000 people are dead though, sadly, that figure is expected to increase significantly. A high proportion of those killed were from the shanty towns of Caracas and Vargas state where the poor have been marginalised on steep, crowded slopes that are vulnerable to flooding and landslides. At present, there are still about 10,000 people missing. Approximately 150,000 people are directly affected, and of these about 100,000 are homeless. Whole communities are reported to have been washed away.
Detailed assessments are now under way, but they have been hampered by the problems of getting to some disaster areas. However, early reports indicate widespread physical damage. Basic services such as power, water, sanitation, health and communications have been severely disrupted. Some key roads and bridges have been destroyed. Caracas airport is open to relief flights only. Although the weather has now cleared, further rain, sadly, has been forecast for the coming days. If that materialises, it is feared that a further 100,000 people could be affected. As a precaution, the Venezuelan authorities are planning temporary evacuations.
My Department is in close touch with the Venezuelan Government and with international agencies to determine how best we should respond. We are following our normal approach of supporting agencies with an established presence and a track record in the region--those who have assessed the needs and those who have the capacity to deliver. We have agreed that our initial support of £500,000 will be channelled through the International Federation of the Red Cross, the Pan American Health Organisation and the United Nations Children's Fund. We are continuing to monitor the situation closely and we stand ready to respond further. I shall be meeting the Venezuelan ambassador later today to discuss the issue.
Mr. Dalyell: As chairman of the all-party Latin America group, I extend my deepest sympathy to the people of Venezuela.
Will it be possible to provide at very short notice some help to the homeless people in the shanty towns? I do not think that it is helpful to try to say anything more about my hon. Friend's remarks except that Mr. Chadderton- Ramos is well known to members of the all-party Latin America group; and we wish him well in his constructive work.
Mr. Foulkes: I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who speaks on behalf of the whole House when he expresses
our sympathy to those who have lost relatives and friends in this terrible tragedy. As I said, about 100,000 people are homeless and have lost everything. They were initially housed in football stadiums and Government buildings, but I can tell my hon. Friend that camps are now being set up on the outskirts of Caracas, managed by the Venezuelan Government authorities and the UN disaster management team. We have indicated that if they need any help with temporary shelters, we will certainly give that serious consideration.
Mr. Gary Streeter (South-West Devon): I welcome the opportunity briefly to discuss this terrible tragedy. Although Venezuela is not one of the poorest countries in the world, this is a genuine tragedy, and the scenes on television last night were distressing for us all. We certainly join others in sending our sympathy to those who have suffered loss in this natural disaster. My hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs. Gillan) has already written to the Venezuelan ambassador, advising him of our strong sympathy and support.
I welcome the financial contribution that the Government have already made. Will the Minister keep a close watch on how the situation develops over Christmas to see how we can make a particular contribution and a difference? Has he yet been notified of any United Kingdom citizens who have been caught up in the flooding or who are casualties of the disaster?
The Minister will now be aware of the public appeal launched by the Red Cross for £500,000, which is specifically for tents, tarpaulins and blankets. Will he welcome that appeal? Does he agree that the British public have demonstrated their great compassion many times already this year and that they will doubtless rise to the occasion again?
The Minister will be aware that there will be a Disasters Emergency Committee meeting at 1.30 pm today, to decide whether British charities will be launching a joint appeal. I appreciate that the appeal is a matter for the charities, not for him, but does he have any advice or thoughts for them?
I want simply to confirm that Conservative Members will support any reasonable action that the Minister deems appropriate to help the people of Venezuela at this time.
Mr. Foulkes: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his support and the manner in which he has expressed it. I give him an absolute assurance that I shall personally keep a close watch on the situation. As I said, officials of the Department are in close touch with the Venezuelan Government and the international agencies, but I assure the hon. Gentleman that I will keep my eye on the situation over the recess and take any necessary action.
I am not aware of any UK citizens who are involved. The information is sketchy at present, but we will certainly keep that in mind. Our ambassador in Venezuela, Mr. Wilkinson, is obviously keeping in close touch on that matter.
The hon. Gentleman mentions that the Disasters Emergency Committee is meeting this afternoon, and I welcome that. Of course he is right to say that it might not be appropriate for me to make any particular
recommendation, but if it were appropriate, I might encourage the committee to set up an appeal because this is a tragedy of immense proportions.
Mr. Tony Lloyd (Manchester, Central): My hon. Friend is right to say that this is an immense tragedy, the victims of which are among the most marginalised people in Venezuela. I know that the Venezuelan Government do not believe that they have the capacity to deal with the situation without an enormous amount of outside help. I was pleased to hear of the actions already taken by this Government, and I congratulate my hon. Friend on that.
There are, however, certain types of help that Britain, through experience, has become particularly good at providing. My hon. Friend had direct experience of that last year, when the use of British troops in the Caribbean was extremely valuable and gave people in a disaster situation an enormous sense of solidarity. Could we consider deploying troops stationed in the Caribbean? Britain also has particular expertise in the use of Bailey bridges, which could be used in the reconstruction of Venezuela, which needs to start now, not in the future.
Mr. Foulkes: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his remarks. He knows the area very well, having served in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with great distinction as a Minister of State, when he dealt particularly with Latin America.
We have considered whether troops or other Ministry of Defence facilities could be deployed. In particular, we considered using the West India guardship. It is 10 days' sailing away, so it could not provide immediate assistance. The Venezuelan navy, however, has two warships off the coast. If we are asked to deploy military assets--I shall be discussing this with the ambassador this afternoon--we shall certainly give that sympathetic consideration, although, of course, the United States has considerably greater military assets and is considerably closer for immediate deployment. We shall certainly consider any request along those lines.
I am now slightly better informed than I was a few minutes ago and can tell the House that our current information is that there are no British citizens caught in the disaster.
Dr. Jenny Tonge (Richmond Park): I apologise for my voice.
My party would also like to join the House in expressing sympathy at the recent horror in Venezuela--the last of a long string of disasters that has been inflicted on the people of the world this year.
In the shorter term, what is the state of our humanitarian aid budget? We have not had any assessment of it recently, so the House would be interested to know just how we are affording aid. Secondly, in the longer term, a written answer to a question that I tabled a week or so ago stated that, after the disasters in Nicaragua and Honduras, an international group for reconstruction and transformation of central America was set up to consider the sort of issues that the hon. Member for Manchester, Central (Mr. Lloyd) mentioned concerning capacity, good governance and preparing for disasters. Is anything similar envisaged for Venezuela?
Mr. Foulkes: On the latter point, we have no immediate information, but I shall look into that and write
to the hon Lady. Regrettably, there has been a long string of disasters this year; the number has been astonishing. As for our budget, funds are not a problem. Our decisions will be made on the basis of need and not on what is in the budget. We shall provide what is needed for the people and what we are able to provide--not financially but physically.
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