Director of the Office of Foreign Assistance at Usaid Ky Luu Holds a News Briefing On Preparations for and Response to Hurricane Dean and the Earthquake in Peru

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Director of the Office of Foreign Assistance at Usaid Ky Luu Holds a News Briefing On Preparations for and Response to Hurricane Dean and the Earthquake in Peru

USAID OFFICE OF FOREIGN ASSISTANCE DIRECTOR KY LUU HOLDS A NEWS BRIEFING ON PREPARATIONS FOR AND RESPONSE TO HURRICANE DEAN AND THE EARTHQUAKE IN PERU

AUGUST 21, 2007

SPEAKER: DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF FOREIGN ASSISTANCE AT USAID KY LUU

DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE FOR OVERSEAS CITIZEN SERVICES MICHELLE BOND [*] STAFF: Good afternoon. I want to thank you all for coming.

Today, we have Mr. Ky Luu, the director of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance for the U.S. Agency for International Development. And we have a deputy secretary for overseas citizen services, Michelle Bond.

And they're going to discuss humanitarian response to earthquake and hurricane victims in the Western hemisphere.

So, Mr. Luu, would you like to start?

LUU: Thank you.

Let me start off by, last year, USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance responded to over 74 disasters affecting more than 173 million people in 55 countries. And this year we're on track for a comparable response.

Within the past seven days, we've had two such disasters occurring in our own hemisphere. Last Wednesday we had the earthquake in Peru, and we're still closely monitoring Hurricane Dean, which continues to be of concern.

To the thousands of people affected by these disasters and to the government of these countries, we extend our deepest sympathies. The United States stands ready to assist and is willing to provide humanitarian aid based on the needs identified by emergency responders.

In ...

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