FOREIGN AID | EU pledges P96 million in emergency aid for Typhoon Odette victims

December 21, 2021 , 09:35 PM

By Clarist Mae Zablan, News5 Digital

(December 21, 2021) – The European Union on Tuesday pledged to provide €1.7 million or an equivalent of P95.84 million in humanitarian aid for emergency assistance in areas that were ravaged by Typhoon Odette, the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year.

European commissioner for crisis management, Janez Lenarčič said the funding will cover provision of immediate needs including food, drinking water, shelter, and the most urgently needed household items. They will also give cash grants to affected populations to help them sustain themselves.

“In an immediate response to typhoon Rai which caused wide-spread destruction and deplorable loss of lives in the Philippines, the EU stands by the Filipino people in these difficult times,” Lenarčič said in a statement.

EU’s humanitarian partners also promised to provide support to strengthen healthcare services in affected areas, including hygiene promotion activities to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases such as leptospirosis, which tends to thrive in evacuation centers where water access is often limited.

The assistance came from the EU’s Acute Large Emergency Response Tool (ALERT). The funding can be topped up in the future, as the EU continues to closely monitor the humanitarian situation in the country, the union said.

Odette, with international name Rai, slammed through the nation’s belly last week, causing massive destruction along its path in Visayas, Northern Mindanao, and Palawan.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) tallied a death toll of 156 as a result of the typhoon, but national police data estimates it at a higher number of 375. The calamity also affected 1.1 million individuals, and displaced nearly 500,000.

The calamity caused agricultural damages worth P162.9 million and damaged infrastructure costing a total of P225.3 million, and hundreds of cities and municipalities still have no access to electricity. Over 6,000 homes were also destroyed.

The international community – including the United States, China, United Kingdom, and Canada – have offered financial and material aid to areas hit by Odette.

On the domestic government’s part, President Rodrigo Duterte has pledged to raise P10 billion for the rehabilitation and recovery of affected areas, his spokesman Karlo Nograles said, a few days after the president claimed that the nation has run out of funds for disaster response due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The government has deployed P2.7 million in assistance as of Tuesday, mostly coming from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the NDRRMC said.

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