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| Paraguayan Ambassador to Korea Ceferino Adrian Valdez Peralta, fourth from right, and Park Chun-hee, head of Songpa District in Seoul, fourth from left, hold a banner reading that the district office provided 30 million won ($30,000) to the city of Asuncion, which was hit hard by flooding in June, at the district office on Tuesday. / Courtesy of Paraguayan Embassy |
By Kang Hyun-kyung
A Seoul district office donated 30 million won (nearly $30,000) for the Paraguayan capital city of Asuncion which was hit hard by recent flooding.
Park Chun-hee, the head of the Songpa District Office in southern Seoul, handed over the donation to Paraguayan Ambassador to Korea Ceferino Adrian Valdez during a ceremony at her office Tuesday.
In a speech to the event, Park expressed hope that the Paraguayan capital can recover quickly following the torrential rains in June. Flooding destroyed nearly 13,000 homes and displaced approximately 75,000 people as the river overflowed its banks.
Park vowed to continue to help the sister city in case other humanitarian needs occur in the future. Songpa District has worked together with the city of Asuncion since 1994 when the two sides signed a sister-city agreement.
Ambassador Valdez expressed his deep gratitude to Park and residents of the district on behalf of Mayor of Asuncion Arnaldo Samaniego.
He said the sister-city agreement did not mean only a document, as the donation proves how much the district office and its residents care about their sister city in the Latin American country.
The Paraguayan ambassador said the donation will be used by the city of Asuncion to construct shelters for the evacuees, provide medicines, winter clothes and food.
The Songpa District Office said approximately 1,400 civil servants and district-based organizations joined the campaign to raise money to help the effort.
