South Korea is joining the global wave of helping earthquake-hit Haiti, with the government, conglomerates and citizens mustering up support for the small Caribbean country.
Haiti lies in ruins after the 7.3-magnitude earthquake ripped through the country last Tuesday as the estimated death toll keeps rising, which prompted the South Korean government to announce Monday its plan to boost its aid to 10 million U.S. dollars from the initial one million dollars.
"Considering the scope of damage and needs for more humanitarian assistance and reconstruction efforts, the government plans to provide aid worth 10 million U.S. dollars (to Haiti), including one million U.S. dollars sent for early emergency relief works (last week)," Seoul's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.
The second batch of aid provided by the government and the public is for short-term emergency relief and long-term efforts to help rebuild the country, while a 35-member team of South Korean relief workers tasked with search and rescue is already in Haiti, according to the ministry.
The decision comes after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who often emphasizes the country's better international standing as a major economy, vowed more aid to the traditionally disaster- prone Caribbean country in a telephone conversation with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon over the weekend.
Lee renewed his pledge on Monday that the country will make additional efforts to help Haiti by supporting emergency relief works and reconstruction projects there, according to the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.
Meanwhile, South Korea's business giants are also extending helping hands, with Samsung Group raising one million U.S. dollars in donation and LG Electronics Inc 50 million won (44,000 U.S. dollars), according to local media.
South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., a leading shipbuilder, pledged to donate two excavators, while the country's top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. plans to give 100,000 U.S. dollars to Haitians, according to local media.
Joining the move, internet-savvy South Korean citizens are now flocking to the websites where online donation campaigns are underway, such as the country's major search portals Naver and Daum, while some netizens are organizing individual campaigns to enthusiastic responses.
South Korea's biggest online social-networking service provider Cyworld, immensely popular among teenagers, is also inviting the huge population of young users to donate their cyber money, called acorns, as a means to raise donation.
Local civic groups are also part of the wave, with the Beautiful Store, a non-profit organization selling second-hand goods donated by citizens, planning to send emergency supplies in cooperation with Oxfam, a global organization devoted to fighting poverty.
"We are currently focusing on water shortage and hygienic problems in Haiti," Lee Soo-jung, an official at the Beautiful Store, told Xinhua.
"Hopefully we can lessen the sufferings of Haitians at least a little bit," he said.