US ups assistance to PH typhoon survivors

FILE PHOTO: Residents of Ubay in Bohol province dig through piles of debris to find anything they can use to rebuild their homes destroyed by Typhoon Odette (international name: Rai), which battered the Visayas and Mindanao regions in December 2021. INQUIRER/LEO UDTOHAN

MANILA, Philippines—With another $8 million (nearly P418 million) in financial assistance, the United States has upped its aid to the Philippines to respond to the damage wrought by typhoons “Odette” (international name: Rai) late last year and “Agaton” (Megi) early this year.

In a May 21 statement, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said its cumulative assistance for typhoon-related rehabilitation activities in the Philippines stood at over $29 million (more than P1.5 billion) to date.

USAID said the fresh funding “will support up to 80,000 typhoon-affected individuals by providing critical shelter assistance, increasing access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities, restoring agricultural livelihoods, ensuring essential sexual and reproductive health services, and providing protection programs for women and children in Dinagat Islands, Leyte, Southern Leyte, and Surigao del Norte provinces.”

“This additional assistance builds upon USAID’s support for typhoon-affected communities since December 2021,” USAID said.

“Through our implementing partners, USAID has provided food, emergency cash, safe drinking water, hygiene supplies, and other relief items to those affected by the typhoon, and is helping over 8,000 families rebuild their homes,” the US’s aid arm said.

USAID noted that the onslaught of Odette before 2021 ended and then Agaton just four months later “further exacerbated the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, generating increased health and protection risks among vulnerable groups.”

Until the middle of this month, over 6,800 Filipinos remained displaced by Odette, which, at the height of its heavy rains and flooding, affected 12 million people.

After Odette flattened central and southern Philippines, USAID extended last December an initial $200,000 (about P10 million) in financial aid.

Since then, USAID added more funds to typhoon emergency response as well as relief supplies for the Philippines, which lies along not only a typhoon belt but also the so-called Pacific Ring of Fine and is prone to many other natural disasters like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

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