Europe's tribute for tsunami victims: Three-minute silence in continent today
BERLIN, Jan 4: Europe was to fall silent on Wednesday in memory of tens of thousands of victims of the Indian Ocean disaster as people, companies and governments across the continent dug deep into their pockets
after one of the worst disasters in living memory.
Flags will continue to fly half mast as the European Union's 25 member states observe three minutes of silence at midday (1100 GMT), in respect of the almost 150,000 people who were killed.
In Germany, where the government is expected to announce the biggest aid donation to the 11 countries hit by the tidal waves on Dec 26, bankers and traders at the Frankfurt stock exchange will pay their respects.
In London, the royal family will join thousands of people, major companies and public offices in paying silent tribute to the victims, who include hundreds of European tourists and many who are missing, feared dead.
Brussels is calling "upon the whole of the European Union to observe three minutes of silence in order to show solidarity and mourn the victims of the disaster," said European Commission spokesman Gregor Kreuzhuber.
Denmark however will not observe the silence because a two-minute silence was held on Sunday, although the Danish stock exchange will stop work at the appointed time and a bridge linking Copenhagen to southern Sweden will be closed.
With massive amounts of public and private funds pouring in, EU aid, health and foreign ministers are also planning an emergency meeting in Brussels on Friday to define the bloc's approach to the crisis.
Sources close to the government in Berlin told AFP that Germany would announce on Wednesday that it was raising its donation from 20 to 500 million euros ($668 million), which would make it the biggest aid contributor.
The German public is already breaking domestic records with its generosity. More than 90 million euros have been pledged by private donors. Momentum gathered too for the world's industrialized countries and members of the Paris Club of donor nations to freeze or forgive the debt of many of the worst-hit countries.
In France, Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) took the unusual step of calling on the public not to give it any more money for this crisis because all its projects in the region were fully funded.
Companies across Europe on Tuesday continued to pour funds into the tsunami relief effort, supplementing government donations with tens of millions of euros in financial aid, food and supplies.
While it was difficult to compile an exact figure for aid granted by private companies, donations by corporations in Britain, France and Germany totalled more than six million euros per country.
While the Nordic countries have generally seen their official death and missing tolls decline over the last day, Switzerland was bracing for the worst. "Several hundred Swiss nationals lost their lives on December 26," President Samuel Schmid said. "A lot of Swiss people who have been declared missing will definitely not be coming home."
According to the foreign ministry figures, 23 Swiss are confirmed dead and 105 are missing. Around 500 are listed as unaccounted for. And Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka called on his people to join in the three minutes' silence as his country said 36 of its nationals were now missing in the disaster. -AFP
