DAVAO CITY — The government has sent more than 7,000 tons of relief goods and more than P400-million worth of shelter assistance to communities devastated by Typhoon Odette last month, the chief of the country’s civil defense agency said on Monday.
Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad, the administrator of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), said in his report to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte that the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) sent a total of 6.4 million kilos of relief goods to typhoon-affected regions, with the OCD contributing P122 million.
Based on the President’s instruction, Jalad, who is also the executive director of the NDRRMC, said the government also contracted the services of a bottling company for the supply of bottled water from its plants in Ormoc City and Laguna.
“And ang total — kasama na ‘yung mga donations from China, LT Group, and Taiwan, and other donors, mayroon tayong naibigay na mahigit 2 million, almost 3 million liters of bottled water,” Jalad said during the President’s weekly public address.
Aside from that, he said the OCD facilitated the deployment of mobile water treatment equipment. Other entities such as the Manila Water, Local Water Utilities Administration, and S&S Corp. sought government assistance for the deployment and transport of such equipment.
In terms of repairing and building damaged homes, Jalad said a shelter cluster has been created with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) serving as the lead agency.
Included in the cluster are the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), OCD, and other government agencies working to provide affected families with shelter assistance.
The OCD chief also said that the National Housing Authority (NHA) has downloaded the initial P487.5 million directly to the local government units tasked to distribute cash assistance to the survivors whose homes were destroyed by the typhoon.
“Ang DSWD naman ay hinahanda na ang pondo in the amount of P4.3 billion through a request for National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund. Ang NHA naman ay magsu-submit din ng request for additional funds para sa kanilang emergency shelter assistance,” Jalad said.
In addition, Jalad reported that the OCD has received $1-million donation from the Republic of China, in which the P40 million was transferred to the NHA for the agency’s emergency shelter assistance.
The rest of the money will be retained by the OCD to aid families with reported casualties during the disaster, according to Jalad.
Based on the latest official government figures, a total of 2.2 million families or 7.7 million individuals were affected by Typhoon Odette in 11 regions. The disaster also left 1.2 million damaged houses. There were 403 reported deaths with 78 missings.
The damage to infrastructures was at P17.6 billion, with P8.9 billion losses to the agriculture sector.
