Washington donates $1M more for ‘Odette’ victims

FILE PHOTO: Residents of Ubay, Bohol, dig through piles of debris to find anything they can use to rebuild their homes destroyed by Typhoon Odette (international name: Rai), as it battered the Visayas and Mindanao regions in mid-December 2021. Leo Udtohan

The US government, through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), will provide an additional $1 million (P51.1 million) in humanitarian assistance to help communities affected by Typhoon “Odette” (international name: Rai). The new assistance will bring total US aid for Odette victims to more than $21.2 million (P1.08 billion). US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Heather Variava said the assistance “will help deliver food and other essential items to communities devastated by the typhoon.” USAID and the World Food Program (WFP) will deploy an additional 300 trucks to transport food and other supplies to typhoon-affected areas. The new funding builds on the US government’s assistance of P1 billion announced in December to provide food; water, sanitation, and hygiene programs; shelter assistance; and logistics support to typhoon-affected communities. As of Jan. 28, USAID and WFP had already provided more than 300 trucks to transport approximately 350,000 household food rations, as well as hygiene kits, kitchen sets and shelter kits to communities devastated by Odette. —TINA G. SANTOS

gsg