Help to be given by the Council of Europe to the victims of the Greek earthquake disasters
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- This Recommendation
was adopted by the Assembly at its twenty-third Sitting, on 25th
September, 1953 (see Doc. 203,
Report of the Special Committee to deal with the question of the
victims of the Greek earthquake disasters).
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
Deeply grieved at the extent of the disaster suffered, as
a result of the recent earthquakes, by the three Greek islands of
Cephalonia, Zante and Ithaca;
Conscious of the feeling of fellowship which, in face of such
catastrophes, unites all the peoples of Europe, who are in duty
bound to assist the victims;
Recalling the appeal issued by the Special Committee on Municipal
and Regional affairs of the Council of Europe on behalf of the victims
of the disasters in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Belgium
and Turkey;
In the spirit of the Resolution of the Committee of Ministers,
urging the Governments of Member States to give Greece, in the fullest
possible measure, whatever assistance it may need for the reconstruction
of the devastated areas,
Recommends that the Committee of Ministers :
a should adopt without delay such
practical measures as it may consider appropriate in order to obtain
the effective assistance of all Member States and to organise, under
the auspices of the Council of Europe, the collection of funds and
gifts in kind to be placed at the disposal of the Greek Government
for the permanent reconstruction of the stricken areas, and, to
this end, should instruct the Secretariat-General :
i to circulate to the Governments
of Member States and to public and private organisations in the free
world an account of the catastrophe and of the present needs of
the stricken areas of Greece;
ii to ascertain the reconstruction plans of the Greek Government
and to communicate them to the other countries of Europe, so as
to enable the latter to give the most effective assistance according
to the means at their disposal; and, more particularly, to determine
what types of gifts in kind would be the most acceptable to Greece;
iii to centralize the assistance provided and the sums contributed,
for transmission to the Greek Government on behalf of the Council
of Europe;
b to decide, in order to give a definite purpose to the
effort of the Council of Europe, and thus arouse the particular
interest of the donors, upon the adoption of a city or town in the
Ionin Islands, such as Ithaca, and to promise all or part of the
cost of its reconstruction, on the basis of plans put forward by
the Greek Government;
c to establish for this purpose a special fund to be built
up by the Council of Europe from the contributions of the various
Governments and from gifts collected in each country by a public
organisation or on institution selected for the purpose;
d to invite the individual Member States to adopt towns
or villages in the Ionian Islands, as has already been done by certain
Governments.
