MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Hotel Owners Association will launch a donation drive to help hotel members affected by the wrath of Typhoon Odette (international name: Rai).
PHOA said it would give P100,000 as a start-up fund for its donation drive.
Last Saturday, PHOA expressed its sympathies to the victims of Odette.
Odette ravaged several parts of the Visayas and Mindanao, where thirty percent of its hotel members are located.
“While we have yet to determine the full extent of the damage the calamity has brought to the establishments, PHOA shall begin a donation drive to help provide immediate relief to those affected,” the association said.
“Rest assured, PHOA is spearheading efforts to ensure that its hotel members as well as other stakeholders that suffered from the calamity recover at the earliest possible time,” it added.
PHOA said it is currently working with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council for the distribution of essential goods to fellow Filipinos in need.
It also said that some of the member hotels that were affected themselves continue to support initiatives that would help their local communities.
"We will continue to monitor the situation and provide assistance to our members and other groups that have been affected by Typhoon Odette," PHOA told Philstar.com.
In a briefing last Monday, the NDRRMC said Odette made landfall at least nine times over Surigao del Norte, Dinagat Islands, Southern Leyte, Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental and Palawan.
The typhoon left the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Saturday.
As of writing, the NDRRM said it recorded 156 deaths, 37 missing people, 275 injured individuals. The agency said these figures are subject to validation, adding that only nine deaths and two injuries have been validated so far.
Odette, one of the strongest typhoons to hit the country this year, also displaced nearly 490,000 people with around 298,000 from Mindanao.