EU financial aid to ‘Sendong’ victims reaches P389M

MANILA, Philippines—European Union aid for tropical storm “Sendong” victims reached P389 million, making EU the largest foreign contributor in relief aid for typhoon-stricken northern Mindanao.

The European Commission, through its Humanitarian Aid Department, provided P169,533,000 while the Spanish Embassy contributed P79,680,510 and the German and Italian Embassies, P28,255,500. Other contributors included the Belgian and Finnish Embassies (P22,604,400), the Dutch Embassy (P19,778,850), the Embassy of Ireland (P5,651,100), the French Embassy (P2,825,550) the Czech Embassy (P3,955,770), the Danish Consulate (P2,260,440), Luxembourg (P2,024,148) and the Austrian Embassy (P406,879).

EU Ambassador Guy Ledoux said that the overall EU humanitarian contribution is a confirmation of the European Union’s solidarity with the Philippines.

Ambassador Ledoux led a group of EU diplomats on a visit to northern Mindanao Wednesday including Ms. Maria Molina, deputy head of mission, Spanish Embassy; Norberto Gomez de Liaño, deputy coordinator general, Office of Technical Cooperation (AECID); Jozef Naudts, Belgian Embassy first secretary; and Dr. Mario Tavolaj, consultant, Italian Embassy.

Ambassador Ledoux said, “Our visit to Cagayan de Oro City is our expression of solidarity and support for vulnerable families affected by typhoon Sendong. The visit also aims at assessing the progress and effectiveness of the EU assistance provided.”

The EU was one of the first to provide immediate aid to the typhoon victims as three EU humanitarian experts from European Commission Humanitarian Aid went to Cagayan de Oro City on December 19, 2011, to assess the damage of the typhoon. The EC in Brussels on the same day already allocated a total of €3 million as relief assistance for the typhoon-hit region.

The €3 million emergency assistance was coursed through IFRC, PRC, IOM, ACF, Plan International, German Red Cross, Save the Children and Care Nederlands.