The South Korean Embassy in Manila on Tuesday announced a $300,000 or P16.2 million worth of humanitarian assistance to the typhoon-hit regions in the Philippines.
“To help relieve the suffering of communities from the typhoon damage, the government of the Republic of Korea has decided to provide the Philippines with humanitarian aid of $300,000 through an appropriate channel,” the embassy said in a statement.
In other developments:
• The latest batch of medicines and relief goods from the national government was delivered Tuesday morning to Tuguegarao City for distribution in Cagayan, one of the provinces hardest hit by Typhoon “Ompong.”
• The Cebu Pacific Air on Tuesday resumed its operations at Tuguegarao Airport to help in the relief efforts initiated by the government following the damage wrought by Ompong.
• The Energy department-led Task Force on Energy Resiliency reported that 54 percent of the affected households in the typhoon-hit areas already had electricity.
• The Philippine National Police has deployed its elite unit to hasten the rescue and retrieval efforts for the landslide victims at a mining site in Itogon, Benguet.
The Korean Embassy expressed optimism that the victims of Ompong will recover.
“The Korean people and the Government of the Republic of Korea are deeply saddened by the news of hardship Filipinos are going through, including the massive number of casualties and injuries,” the embassy said.
“We are confident that the people of the Philippines, under the leadership of President Rodrigo Duterte, will recover from the damage soon.”
South Korea is among the foreign governments and international organizations that have provided aid to the Philippines on its recovery and relief efforts in the aftermath of Ompong.
Earlier, the French Embassy in Manila also expressed readiness to extend possible assistance to the country. With Joel E. Zurbano and Francisco Tuyay
