The Government is to provide emergency funding for areas of Mexico and Caribbean which have been affected by severe flooding in recent days.
The Minister of State for Overseas Development, Michael Kitt, announced that Irish aid will make up to €1 million available for relief efforts for those affected by severe flooding in Mexico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and other countries in the region hit by Hurricane Noel.
A week of heavy rains over Mexico caused rivers to overflow, drowning at least 80 per cent of the swampy, oil-rich state of Tabasco. Much of the state capital, Villahermosa, looked like New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, with murky water reaching to second-storey rooftops and desperate people waiting to be rescued.
President Felipe Calderon, flying overhead, called it one of Mexico's worst recent natural disasters.
Making the announcement of emergency relief funding, Minister Kitt said: "I am shocked by the severity of the floods experienced in the Gulf of Mexico. The Irish Aid emergency funding that I am announcing this afternoon will assist in international efforts to provide shelter and relief to those who have been worst affected." Irish Aid's funds will be distributed through partner relief organisations operating in the region, including the UN and Red Cross.