The U.S. government has announced an additional Php13.8 million ($250,000) in aid to support families affected by severe flooding in the Philippines last July. The funding will provide emergency shelter assistance and hygiene kits to more than 3,000 families—about 15,800 people—who remain in evacuation centers across Rizal, Laguna, Bulacan, and Pampanga.
With this latest contribution, total U.S. humanitarian support for disaster response efforts in the country now stands at Php27.6 million ($500,000). The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will use the funds to distribute shelter-grade tarpaulins, repair kits with construction tools and materials, and essential household supplies to those whose homes were damaged or destroyed.
To address health and sanitation needs in evacuation centers, families will also receive hygiene kits containing soap, buckets, and cleaning supplies. IOM will monitor hygiene and sanitation facilities to help ensure safety and wellbeing.
“Although flooding has subsided in most areas, thousands of families remaining in evacuation centers continue to face significant challenges,” said U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires ad interim Y. Robert Ewing. “We are grateful to be working alongside our partners, including IOM, the World Food Programme (WFP), the Philippines’ Office of Civil Defense, and the DSWD, to help affected families recover and rebuild.”
Earlier this year, the U.S. government provided another Php13.8 million ($250,000) that enabled WFP to deliver nearly 48,000 DSWD family food packs benefiting over 200,000 people across Northern and Central Luzon. In addition to financial support for relief goods distribution by international organizations like IOM and WFP—which are active in disaster response globally—the U.S. military also assisted Philippine-led operations using air assets to deliver food packs for thousands of residents in Batanes.