More Aussie, Japan aid for ‘Yolanda’

MANILA, Philippines—More than four months after Super Typhoon Yolanda devastated a large swath of the Visayas, Australia and Japan announced fresh aid in support of reconstruction efforts.

The Australian government had allocated another A$10 million (around P403 million) to fund the recovery in the typhoon-hit areas, Australian Ambassador Bill Tweddell said during a visit to Tacloban City on Tuesday.

“On behalf of the Australian government and people, I am pleased to announce that Australia will provide a further contribution for recovery and reconstruction activities in areas devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda,” Tweddell said.

He commended the efforts of the Philippine government to meet the needs of the people after the disaster and the courage and resilience of the people affected by the monster typhoon.

Strongest typhoon

The strongest typhoon ever to make landfall claimed almost 7,000 lives and destroyed thousands of homes on Nov. 8 last year.

“[W]hen faced with devastation of this magnitude we all need a little help from our close friends,” Tweddell said.

Under the latest Australian donation, some P162 million would be used for livelihood programs, P121 million to construct classrooms and day-care centers, P40 million for hazard-mapping and improved land use planning, P40 million to restock disaster response supplies with the United Nations, and P40 million to deploy Australian technical experts for the recovery and reconstruction programs.

Education program

The fresh aid is on top of Australia’s earlier donation of A$20 million (P808 million) to build 500 classrooms under its Basic Education Sector Transformation program.

Australia was also among the largest donors during the relief phase of the disaster response, providing A$40 million (P1.6 billion) plus logistics support.

Japan, meanwhile, announced a donation of US$3.5 million (P157.7 million) to support early recovery projects of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Japanese Ambassador Toshinao Urabe and UN resident coordinator in the Philippines Luiza Carvalho will formalize the donation on Thursday, to be witnessed by UNDP administrator Helen Clark.

P315-million aid

Among the largest donors to the aid effort, Japan’s total aid to the Yolanda response now totals US$7 million, or P315 million.

In Tacloban, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman thanked Tweddell and the Australian government and people for the donation.

“The additional support they have announced today will further strengthen our efforts to rebuild and build back better the areas that have been affected by Yolanda … in Tacloban and Leyte and Samar,” Soliman said.—With a report from Joey Gabieta, Inquirer Visayas; and Nestor Corrales, INQUIRER.net

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Originally posted: 1:36 pm | Tuesday, March 25th, 2014