VIENNA, Sept 18 (Askume) – Austria on Wednesday announced a series of measures to tackle severe flooding across the country, including tripling the federal disaster relief fund and suspending taxes for affected companies.
Austrian political parties have also suspended campaigning for the September 29 parliamentary election and postponed events and TV debates until this weekend.
“The last few days have been extremely challenging for many parts of Austria and our neighbours and have caused tremendous suffering and unimaginable loss,” Chancellor Karl Nehammer said in a statement.
He said the disaster relief fund would more than triple to 1 billion euros ($1.11 billion).
The particularly hard-hit state of Lower Austria received initial aid on Tuesday, with the government providing 45 million euros from a disaster relief fund.
The plan comes as Austria and other countries in central Europe are hit by the worst flooding in two decades. Five people died in Austria alone.
This fund provides money to repair damage caused by disasters and to take preventive measures.
Other measures announced on Wednesday include interest-free loans of up to 100 million euros for affected companies and the option of short-term work for their workers.
The Austrian government also said it would invest around 1 billion euros over the next few years to expand the scope of flood control and reduce future flood damage.
(1 USD = 0.8990 EUR)
