spot_img
29 C
Philippines
Thursday, March 28, 2024

ADB okays $2-m grant to support typhoon victims

- Advertisement -

The Asian Development Bank said Wednesday it approved a $2-million (about P100-million) grant to support the Philippine government’s emergency response to the devastation caused by Typhoon Odette in the Visayas and Mindanao in December 2021.

Typhoon Odette was the strongest typhoon to make landfall in the country last year.

The grant under ADB’s Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund will provide humanitarian assistance to about 15,000 households, or about 75,000 people, in the Visayas and Mindanao that were severely affected by the typhoon.

It will fund food vouchers to be distributed to target communities, which beneficiaries can exchange for food in selected markets. The grant also includes logistics support for the food assistance delivery.

ADB director-general for Southeast Asia Ramesh Subramaniam said in a statement the typhoon’s damage on housing, agriculture and infrastructure amid the COVID-19 pandemic made life more difficult for Filipinos in the affected areas.

- Advertisement -

“This assistance will help finance the humanitarian needs of those residents, especially people living in remote areas,” Subramaniam said.

ADB said it is teaming up with the United Nations World Food Program to deliver the food assistance. It builds on WFP’s ongoing work with the Department of Social Welfare and Development to provide emergency relief to typhoon-hit areas.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council estimated the typhoon caused P24.6 billion (nearly $500 million) in damage to crops, public infrastructure and private property. Several areas remain blocked by collapsed roads and bridges, and with power supply yet to be fully restored.

The category 5 typhoon destroyed more than 1.7 million houses in eight provinces.

The United Nations estimated that over 9.9 million people across the six worst-hit regions were affected by the typhoon, with nearly 144,000 people still without a home as of Jan. 28, 2022.

- Advertisement -

LATEST NEWS

Popular Articles