USAID gives $200,000 in assistance for Odette response

REBUILDING Residents of Ubay, Bohol, dig through piles of debris to find anything they can use to rebuild their homes destroyed by Typhoon “Odette,” as it battered the Visayas and Mindanao last week. —LEO UDTOHAN

MANILA, Philippines—Immediate financial assistance amounting to $200,000 (about P10 million) will be given away by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for victims of Super Typhoon Odette (Rai) in central and southern Philippines.

“USAID is partnering with Action Against Hunger to provide food, water, hygiene supplies, and other relief items in Surigao del Norte and Dinagat Island in the Caraga region to help people affected by the storm,” USAID said in a Dec. 21 statement.

“USAID is also supporting the restoration of water supply services and sanitation facilities, as well as hygiene promotion activities to keep people safe and healthy,” it added.

“Through existing programs, USAID partner, the UN World Food Program (WFP), is transporting relief supplies, including enough food provided by the government of the Philippines to feed tens of thousands of families,” the aid agency said.

It said it WFP was also “deploying mobile operations vehicles to support emergency telecommunications.”

“USAID partner, the International Organization for Migration, is helping to manage evacuation shelters and provide critical relief supplies, including USAID heavy-duty plastic sheeting to meet critical shelter needs for 4,800 families,” USAID said.

USAID said its natural disaster experts in the Philippines and across the region were already coordinating response efforts with the government as well as humanitarian partners. It noted that on top of quick response to Odette, USAID has been also active in ongoing programs aimed at making the Philippines more disaster-resilient.

Separately, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) last Monday (Dec. 20) said it donated to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) camping tents, generators, portable water containers, sleeping pads, as well as materials which can be used as roofing (like plastic sheets and tarpaulins) for temporary shelters of Odette survivors.

“We are saddened by the loss and devastation caused by typhoon Odette. Jica extends its deepest sympathy to the families and all those who lost their homes and livelihoods from the typhoon,” Eigo Azukizawa, the Japanese aid agency’s chief representative in the Philippines, said in a statement.

“As in our experience in Japan, typhoons have become severe in recent years, and this time, natural disasters are further complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Azukizawa said.

“We assure the Philippines that we will continue our development cooperation in disaster risk reduction and management, as we have done in the past, to further enhance disaster preparedness and resilience and towards building back better,” Azukizawa added.

TSB