Taiwan steps up aid to Yolanda survivors

Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou and Premier Jiang Yi-huah have instructed  Taipei’s ministry of foreign affairs and the ministry of national defense to work with civic groups in Taiwan to collect relief materials for the survivors of super typhoon Yolanda, a press statement from the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Last November 10, Taiwan donated $200,000 to assist the Philippine government in the relief efforts in typhoon-ravaged areas in the Visayas region.

Taiwan has already dispatched two fully loaded C130 Hercules cargo planes carrying 15-tons of relief supplies from Hsinchu Air Force Base to Cebu.

Taiwan’s Red Cross Society, DDM Social Welfare and Charity Foundation, the Fo Guang Shan Compassion Foundation, Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation, Ling Jiou Mountain Buddhist Society and the Namchow Group were the groups that donated the goods for victims of Yolanda.

Taiwan sent about 24,000 items of instant rice, noodles and meat packages, blankets and tents. Taiwanese enterprises based in the Philippines also donated 200 tons of rice.

Philippine representative to Taiwan Antonio I. Basilio and Ambassador Ting Joseph Shih, Taiwan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, formally received the relief supplies from the charity organizations during a ceremony before the planes took off.

Basilio also flew to Cebu aboard one of the C130 Hercules planes to assist in the relief work.

In response to the Taiwanese state’s appeal, domestic charity organizations in Taiwan collected nearly 100 tons of goods worth $1.7 million a day after Manila’s appeal.

On behalf of the Taiwanese government, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines conveyed its condolences and concern to the Philippine government.

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