§ Mr. McGradyTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps her Department has taken in respect of the recent pollution incident in the Malaysian Peninsula, Borneo and Sumatra. [15047]
§ Mr. FoulkesWe reacted swiftly to the environmental emergency in South East Asia with a grant of £62,066 to the United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs to provide relief goods to those affected. We offered to send aircraft with infra-red reconnaissance capability to pin-point the location of fires but these were no longer required. We have also provided two experts to support the United Nations' disaster assessment and co-ordination role and a fire-fighting and logistics expert to lead the Technical Co-ordination Group established to co-ordinate international assistance for the provision of ground fire-fighting equipment and training.