With help still needed almost eight weeks after the first landfall of Typhoon “Odette,” the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $2-million grant to the Philippines in support of relief efforts.
Made available through the multilateral lender’s Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund, the grant will provide humanitarian aid to about 15,000 households—about 75,000 people—in the Visayas and Mindanao who were severely affected by the typhoon that passed through these regions last December.
The typhoon destroyed more than 1.7 million houses in eight provinces, and about 144,000 people are still without a home as of Jan. 28, according to an estimate by the United Nations.
Food vouchers
In particular, the grant will fund food vouchers that will be distributed to target communities. The beneficiaries can exchange these for food in selected markets.
Also, the grant includes logistics support for the delivery of food aid, on which the ADB is working with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
This partnership builds on WFP’s ongoing work with the Department of Social Welfare and Development to provide emergency relief to typhoon-hit areas.
Difficulties
“Typhoon Odette’s damage on housing, agriculture, and infrastructure amid the COVID-19 pandemic has made life more difficult for Filipinos in affected areas,” said Ramesh Subramaniam, director general for Southeast Asia of ADB.
“This assistance will help finance the humanitarian needs of those residents, especially people living in remote areas,” Subramaniam said.
According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, Odette caused P24.6 billion in damage to crops, public infrastructure, and private property.
Several areas remain blocked by collapsed roads and bridges, and with electricity services not yet fully restored.
President Duterte in December declared a state of calamity for a year in the six regions that were affected, to accelerate the rescue, relief, and rehabilitation efforts.