The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has extended an additional grant to the Philippine government for disaster relief and recovery.
In a news statement issued on Tuesday, the USAID said it provided an additional P170 million, or $3.5- million grant, to assist communities in Metro Manila, Northern Samar, and Maguindanao provinces that are highly prone to frequent earthquakes, typhoons and floods.
The grant will improve early warning systems, and develop better protocols for more rapid disaster responses. It will also help train evacuation center managers to organize safe evacuations that include safeguards and social distancing amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Through this assistance, we hope that Filipino communities are able to prepare, mitigate, and recover quickly from the negative impacts of natural disasters,” US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires John Law stated.
Citing the 2019 Asia Pacific Disaster Report, USAID said the Philippines’s multi-hazard average annual loss was estimated at $20 billion.
The report, USAID stated, estimates that 75.8 percent of the Philippines total population lives in high-risk areas.
Since 2010, USAID has provided P16.5 billion, or $340 million, in disaster relief and recovery assistance for more than 100 cities and municipalities in the Philippines.
The announcement coincided with the October 13 commemoration of the International Day for Disaster Reduction, which encourages citizens and governments to take part in building more disaster-resilient communities and nations.
“As a friend, partner, and ally of the Filipino people, we are proud of our partnership with the Philippine government and the great strides we have made to boost the country’s resilience against natural calamities,” Law added.
USAID and the Philippine Department of Finance (DOF) recently signed a new five-year bilateral assistance agreement valued at more than P10.5 billion, or $213 million, to boost the country’s economic development and growth.
This bilateral agreement with the DOF is one of four new five-year USAID-Government of Philippines Development Assistance Agreements launching in 2020, with an anticipated total value of P32.7 billion, or $675 million, over five years.
Based on the 2019 Official Development Assistance (ODA) Portfolio Review, the United States was the country’s 6th-largest source of development assistance composed of ODA grants.
As of 2019, the US government extended a total $577.71 million in grants, accounting for 2.67 percent of the total ODA portfolio of the Philippines. The amount covered a total of 52 projects.