Spain pledges El Salvador aid

El Salvador has suffered widespread damage

By Flora Botsford in Madrid

The Spanish Government has announced aid worth $33m to help the reconstruction of El Salvador.

Speaking at a meeting of aid donors in Madrid, the President of El Salvador, Francisco Flores, said the country was still reeling from the effects of two earthquakes this year.

Spain offered emergency help and now funds

Spain has been quick to respond to the crisis in El Salvador, not just offering emergency help when it was most needed but now continuing aid while the country tries to rebuild its infrastructure and economy.

The $33m pledged at Wednesday's meeting will help towards reconstruction in the vital sectors of energy, communications, water and health.

Devastating quakes

El Salvador is still suffering the effects of two devastating earthquakes in January and February of this year which killed 1,500 people and destroyed 200,000 homes.

President Flores told delegates that El Salvador needed further help now that the emergency phase was over.

President Flores has appealed for more aid

He thanked the international community for its response so far and said the government was also looking to the private sector to contribute.

The meeting is being hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank, which has already redirected loans worth more than $200m to El Salvador and pledged a further $25m emergency package.

The bank's president, Enrique Iglesias, said the task ahead was not only to reach the economic level which El Salvador had before the earthquakes but to use the opportunity to establish a framework for sustainable economic and social development.

He said the government of El Salvador needed aid, which it would use responsibly.