US donates $20M as more int'l aid pour in for Yolanda victims

MANILA, Philippines - More international agencies pledged their support to the Philippines in light of the widespread devastation and loss of lives caused by typhoon Yolanda.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will extend a $20-million (P871 million) donation to victims of the super typhoon, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah said. The aid includes emergency food and critical relief supplies like shelter materials and hygiene kits.

He added that the supplies will not only provide life-saving care in the immediate aftermath of the storm, but will also help prevent illness and death from waterborne and communicable diseases.

Shah said the US agency will also send 55 metric tons of food including nutritious bars and paste which can nourish some 20,000 children and 15,000 adults for up to five days.

A USAID disaster assistance response team was also prepositioned in the Visayas region ahead of other international government assessment teams, Shah said.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry for Emergency Situations and Civil Defense (EMERCOM) dispatchedan airmobile hospital and rescue workers to help clear areas devastated by the typhoon.

“In line with an instruction issued by the Russian government in the light of a request from the Philippines, EMERCOM is sending two Ilyushin-76 jets that will deliver a hospital of the Centrospas emergency medicine center, rescuers and psychologists to area affected by the calamity,” Oleg Voronov, the chief of EMERCOM’s Center for Response to Critical Situations told Russian news agency Itar-Tass. 

The Chilean government also pledged on Monday to send humanitarian aid to the Philippines