Taiwan offers cash aid and rice to quake-stricken Haiti

Jan 14, 2010, 14:44 GMT

Taipei - Taiwan has offered an immediate donation of 200,000 US dollars and will send 200 metric tons of rice to its Caribbean ally Haiti, which was hit hard by a devastating earthquake, officials said Thursday.

'In addition to the 200,000 US dollars, more funds, including donations from the public and local charity organizations, will be sent to Haiti to help in the relief work there,' said James Chang, a spokesman of Taiwan's foreign ministry.

He said the ministry already set up a task force to coordinate relief and rescue efforts before dispatching a 23-member rescue team, equipped with 2,000 kilograms of rescue tools along with two search dogs, to join in the rescue work there.

Chang said Taiwan's Ambassador to Haiti Hsu Mien-sheng and another embassy official were sent to the Dominical Republic for medical treatment after they were hit by debris during the collapse of their two-storey embassy in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince.

A daughter of one of a Taiwanese engineer stationed in Haiti was killed during the earthquake, Chang said.

Taiwan's Council of Agriculture will send 200 metric tons of rice to Haiti and the shipment is expected to reach the quake-stricken nation later this month, a council official said.

Various charity groups in Taiwan Thursday started fund-raising activities to offer relief for Haiti, one of 23 countries with whom Taiwan has diplomatic relations.