US allocates $5.5 M for Phl disaster resilience program

MANILA, Philippines - The United States has allocated another $5.5 million (P184.3 million) to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in support of the Philippine government’s efforts to strengthen the resilience of disaster-prone communities.

The new grant will support the third phase of WFP’s Disaster Preparedness and Response/Climate Change Adaptation (DPR/CCA) Program, which was piloted in 2011 in the four   disaster-prone provinces of Benguet, Cagayan, Laguna, and Sorsogon.

The third phase will expand the program to five new provinces such as Batangas, Compostela Valley, Davao Oriental, Iloilo and Misamis Oriental.

The US grant will be used to support projects to be identified and proposed by the communities.

With the rainy season in the Philippines fast approaching, the WFP said the need to strengthen disaster preparedness and response efforts in the country is a top priority.

The WFP said the situation is even more pressing considering that the country is a disaster-prone country visited by at least 20 typhoons annually.