PRESS RELEASE: USAID Providing Humanitarian Assistance in Response to Devastating Super Typhoon Rai in the Philippines
For Immediate Release | Tuesday, December 21, 2021
Office of Press Relations ([email protected])
The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing $200,000 in immediate assistance to support people affected by Super Typhoon Rai in the Philippines. The typhoon–known locally as Typhoon Odette–brought torrential rains, causing widespread flooding, landslides, and damage to homes. Many cities across the Philippines have lost power and some bridges and roads remain impassable. People are seeking shelter in evacuation centers and cannot safely return home yet.
With this assistance, USAID is partnering with Action Against Hunger to provide food, water, hygiene supplies, and other relief items in Surigao del Norte and Dinagat Island in the Caraga region to help people affected by the storm. USAID is also supporting the restoration of water supply services and sanitation facilities, as well as hygiene promotion activities to keep people safe and healthy.
In addition, USAID works year-round to help communities in the Philippines prepare for and be more resilient to natural disasters. Through existing programs, USAID partner, the UN World Food Program, is transporting relief supplies, including enough food provided by the Government of the Philippines to feed tens of thousands of families, and deploying mobile operations vehicles to support emergency telecommunications. USAID partner, the International Organization for Migration, is helping to manage evacuation shelters and provide critical relief supplies, including USAID heavy-duty plastic sheeting to meet critical shelter needs for 4,800 families.
USAID has disaster experts in the Philippines and in the region who are coordinating response efforts with the Government of the Philippines and humanitarian partners. Our thoughts are with the people of the Philippines who have been affected by this disaster.
For the latest updates on U.S. humanitarian assistance in the Philippines, visit: www.usaid.gov/humanitarian-assistance/philippines
Photo by Nino Kim Diez for Action Against Hunger
Read USAID’s official press release here.
