PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC:
PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning says oil-rich Trinidad and Tobago will make a financial contribution to the relief exercise in Asia following the tsunamis over the weekend that have so far killed nearly 60,000 people from Thailand to Somalia.
Manning also announced that his country would develop "appropriate contingency plans" to take into account "the greater intensity of the natural disasters that we are seeing here and elsewhere in the world.
The announcement by Manning came following a one-hour meeting on Tuesday of disaster preparedness officials, which was also attended by Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary General Edwin Carrington.
Manning told reporters that while his Cabinet had not yet decided on the amount of money to be allocated to the international relief exercise, "I believe that the disaster in South East of Asia is at such a scale that it wants some kind of intervention from Trinidad and Tobago".
