Gov’t, UN lead in nonstop relief efforts
The United Nations kicked off a campaign Friday to raise $107.2 million (about P5.36 billion) in aid for victims of Typhoon Odette (international name: Rai), which ravaged the Philippines last week.
Meanwhile, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered all government agencies to use their assets in the recovery and rehabilitation efforts and said he would work through the Christmas holidays because people were starving and are getting sick in typhoon-struck areas.
The money will be targeted towards 530,000 people in the worst-affected areas, who are in dire need of drinking water, sanitation facilities, food and emergency shelter, the organization said.
“There is momentum for full support,” UN Resident Coordinator in the Philippines Gustavo Gonzalez told a virtual press conference earlier.
“Now the challenge is that all of this announcement and solidarity is rapidly translated into concrete actions.”
President Rodrigo Duterte ordered all government agencies to use their assets in the recovery and rehabilitation efforts and said he would work through the Christmas holidays because people were starving and are getting sick in typhoon-struck areas.
“I visited Palawan earlier today and then I came here before I go home to Davao. I came here to let you know that the government has not forgotten you,” Duterte said during a visit to typhoon victims in Cebu on Thursday. “The government is working very hard, and the government is doing all that it can to find money for you.”
Duterte said the Department of Social Welfare and Development already has the list of beneficiaries so those who are qualified to receive the aid will get their fair share.
He also noted that the money will be distributed among the local government units and Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año will oversee its implementation.
“So, the only thing we need now is your cooperation. We in government are ready, we are ready to provide. So, what we’re aiming for now is a peaceful implementation because everyone will get their fair share anyway,” he said.
Odette devastated swathes of the southern and central regions of the archipelago when it hit as a super typhoon, leaving at least 375 people dead and hundreds of thousands homeless.
It destroyed houses, uprooted trees, wiped out crops, shattered fishing boats and knocked out power across entire islands.
The military, coast guard and humanitarian organizations are racing to get food, drinking water and temporary shelter to the hardest-hit regions.
But the scale of the destruction, lack of mobile phone signal or internet in many areas, and depleted government coffers after the COVID-19 response has hampered efforts to distribute aid.
“Odette intensified from a tropical storm to a super typhoon within hours and I think that this is a lesson learned in terms of the impact of climate change,” Gonzalez said Thursday, referring to the typhoon’s international name.
The storm caught everyone by surprise, he said, noting it did not follow the usual “trajectory” of typhoons in the Philippines, which tend to make landfall further north.
Scientists have long warned that typhoons are strengthening more rapidly as the world becomes warmer because of human-driven climate change.
The Philippines—ranked among the most vulnerable nations to its impacts—is hit by an average of 20 storms every year.
In 2013, Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) was the strongest storm ever to have made landfall, leaving over 7,300 people dead or missing.
In other developments:
• State-owned Land Bank of the Philippines announced on Friday that it has allocated P20.9 million in financial assistance to assist in the recovery of 195 local government units (LGUs) affected by Typhoon Odette. Landbank said that out of the P20.9 million in financial aid, it has set aside P200,000 each for affected provinces, as well as P150,000 and P100,000 each for cities and municipalities, respectively. Among the LGUs that have already received Landbank’s financial assistance are the Province of Southern Leyte; the City of Maasin; the municipalities of Malitbog and Padre Burgos in Southern Leyte; and the municipalities of Hilongos and Matalom in Leyte.
• The Bureau of Customs on Friday turned over imported foodstuff and footwear to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for donation to families affected by Typhoon Odette. Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero said the donation was spearheaded by officials of the bureau’s Auction and Cargo Disposal Division. The donated goods consist of 5,200 sacks of rice, 91,200 canned goods, and 81,200 pairs of footwear, which arrived at the Port of Batangas, Manila International Container Port, and Port of Manila, respectively, and later declared abandoned.
• A truckload of Benguet vegetables arrived at the compound of the Department of Public Works and Highways-Cordillera Autonomous Region to be distributed to typhoon victims. Some 3.5 tons of potatoes and sayote—which can last about a month and can stand the rigors of long trips—were part of the relief goods.
