Singapore Red Cross vows more flood aid to Philippines

MANILA, Philippines—The head of the Singaporean Red Cross visited the Philippines on Sunday and Monday to help in the Philippine Red Cross’ relief effort for flood-stricken families still sheltered in various evacuation centers.

Secretary-General William Benjamin Jeyaraj of the Singapore Red Cross Society and his team arrived in Manila on Sunday afternoon and joined the PRC relief distribution Monday for 945 families in four evacuation centers in Caloocan and Valenzuela cities.

The PRC operations were held in Sta. Quiteria Elementary School in Caloocan, and Dalandanan National High School, A. Deato Elementary School and Malanday Chaptel, all in Valenzuela.

Jerayaj was accompanied by PRC chairman Richard Gordon and secretary-general Gwendolyn Pang.

The relief items distributed per family consisted of food packs, sleeping kits – blankets and mat and one jerry can or water container.

Jeyaraj, according to the Gordon, personally wanted to assess what support the Singapore’s Red Cross could give to PRC.

Before flying back to Singapore on Monday afternoon, Jeyaraj promised to return to the Philippines before the end of the month to turn over their society’s donation and sign an agreement with PRC for a longer partnership on disaster response and other special projects.

Gordon, for his part, thanked the Singapore Red Cross for its continuing support to the Philippines especially in times of disasters and other emergencies.

As of Tuesday, the Red Cross said it had served a total of 20,2911 families with food items and 10,681 families with non-food items. The PRC also provided hot meals to 72,623 people.