THE United States government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has provided an additional P170 million (about $3.5 million) to bolster the Philippine government’s capacity in helping protect high-risk communities against the impacts of natural disasters.
USAID will assist communities in Metro Manila as well as the provinces of Northern Samar and Maguindanao that are highly prone to frequent earthquakes, typhoons and floods. The agency will boost the capacity of community leaders and local governments to mitigate disaster risks, improve early-warning systems, and develop better protocols for more rapid disaster responses.
The assistance will also help train evacuation center managers in organizing safe evacuations that include safeguards and social distancing vis-a-vis the pandemic. USAID partners will also be ready to augment the Philippines’s disaster response and logistics capabilities to deliver relief assistance when disasters strike.
“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.
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.”
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. The 2019 Asia Pacific Disaster Report revealed that the Philippines’s multihazard average annual loss was estimated at $20 billion, with 75.8 percent of the total population living in high-risk areas.