Venezuela

HC Deb 21 December 1999 vol 341 cc667-71 12.31 pm

Mr. Tam Dalyell (Linlithgow)

(by private notice): To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on assistance to Venezuela.

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.

Mr. Nigel Griffiths (Edinburgh, South)

Will my hon. Friend join me in paying tribute to the people of Venezuela who have been generous in their support of peoples in other countries who are less fortunate than themselves? What discussions are taking place in the European Union to ensure that support is mobilised across Europe?

Mr. Foulkes

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to say that the Venezuelan Government have been quick to respond to other disasters. That is why the whole international community has responded very quickly to this one. There has been immense support from international agencies and other countries. Our contribution is one of very many. We are discussing it with our colleagues in the EU to see what funds can be made available from the European Community Humanitarian Office and other organisations.

Mr. Michael Fabricant (Lichfield)

I am sure that the Minister will agree that prevention is always better than cure, but does he agree that the disaster in Venezuela, as in Honduras, was exacerbated by intense farming on hillsides and the removal of trees and other natural vegetation, which encouraged the landslip? It was not just the bad weather that was to blame. Does he also agree that there is considerable expertise in British universities and other academic institutions in such work? Is there anything that his Department can do, once the immediate tragedy is dealt with, to advise Venezuela and, indeed, other countries around the globe that are liable to such disasters? If the right sort of vegetation were planted so that mudslides were less likely, the effect of such disasters may be mitigated.

Mr. Foulkes

The hon. Gentleman is very perceptive, as usual. He is absolutely right to point out that this disaster is worse than it might have been, owing to deforestation and other policies that have resulted in greater devastation. That was so in Honduras, Nicaragua and Orissa, too. The work for which he is asking is already being done by our Department. We have a major natural resources programme. I recently visited the Natural Resources Institute in Chatham to discuss the work in detail with representatives from all the universities that are conducting it. The hon. Gentleman is right, but I am glad to say that we are ahead of him in thinking of it.

Mr. Tom Levitt (High Peak)

I am sure that my friends in Venezuela, who have already contacted me asking for help, will consider the Government's response appropriate as a first response. Does my hon. Friend agree that anyone who has seen the shanty towns of Caracas, built as they are on the steep-sided slopes, will have thought that this was a disaster that has been waiting to happen for many years? Given that Venezuela is a country of great extremes of wealth, will my hon. Friend find an appropriate moment to urge the Venezuelan authorities, when they rebuild, not to replace like with like, but to look for ways in which the shanty occupants of Caracas can be helped in the long term?

Mr. Foulkes

Again, my hon. Friend has touched on an important point. It is sad that the poorest often suffer in natural disasters, as well as suffering regularly. Our entire programme, the theme of our White Paper and the basis of all our work is poverty eradication, which is so vital. In Latin America, countries that have a relatively high per capita income nevertheless have huge inequalities, masked by the per capita income. The Inter-American Development Bank recently produced a report on inequality and poverty in Latin America. Venezuela and other Latin American countries must come to terms with that. We are encouraging and helping them to do so.

Mr. Adrian Sanders (Torbay)

It is more than two days since news of the disaster came in, and only this afternoon are the charities getting together to consider their response. I corresponded earlier in the year with the Minister's Department about setting up a national emergency number that the public can ring to make donations.

My office this morning made five telephone calls to the Department. On the first three occasions, staff did not know to whom donations could be made. The fourth call was answered by an answering machine. Only on the fifth call was it suggested that donations should be made to the British Red Cross.

Ordinary members of the public would not have access to those telephone numbers, and they do not know where to make their contribution. We need a national emergency line for events on this scale for people to contact and make their donations immediately when they see the terrible pictures of the world's disasters.

Mr. Foulkes

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point, which I hope the Disasters Emergency Committee will consider. Obviously, this afternoon the committee will be dealing with the immediate disaster, and rightly so because it is so urgent. However, it is always easy to be wise after an event. The gravity of the situation in Venezuela has escalated. The flooding got worse as the rainfall increased. It was not until Saturday that the scale of the disaster was known. To be fair to the Disasters Emergency Committee, it is responding quickly, as soon as it knew the scale of the disaster and what was needed.