KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/14 December)—Canada is extending an additional assistance of $1.75 million (around P72 million) for victims of Typhoon Pablo (international name Bopha) in Mindanao, Minister of International Cooperation Juan Fantino announced on Friday.
In a statement, Fantino said the additional humanitarian assistance will be coursed through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
“Canada is responding to the increasing needs of the Philippine people as they face the alarming devastation caused by the typhoon,” said Fantino. “We are helping families survive by providing critical humanitarian assistance.”
As of 7 a.m. Friday, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported that the typhoon killed 906 persons while the missing persons stood at 932. The typhoon affected a total of 537,445 families or 5,516,181 individuals.
The full impact of Typhoon Bopha (locally named Pablo), which struck Mindanao Island in the southern Philippines on December 4, 2012, is becoming apparent as needs assessments are completed. Philippines authorities report 5.4 million people have been affected, leaving hundreds of thousands seeking help in evacuation centers, according to the statement.
Canada, through CIDA, is providing support for delivering humanitarian assistance to approximately 480,000 affected people in urgent need of food, safe drinking water, and emergency shelter to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), it added.
Of the additional Canadian humanitarian fund, WFP and IOM will each receive $700,000 and $350,000 for UNICEF.
To date, Canada has allocated $2 million (at least P82 million) to address the emergency needs of those affected by the impact of Typhoon Pablo in Mindanao.
On December 6, Canada provided $250,000 million to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to support the Philippine Red Cross in its efforts to address the emergency needs of some 50,000 people.
Earlier this week, WFP appealed for assistance amounting to around $22 million to help the typhoon victims in Mindanao.
Typhoon Pablo devastated the provinces of Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley and portions of Davao del Norte, Agusan del Sur and Surigao del Sur. (MindaNews)
