World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre) Executive Director Said Faisal and ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management Head Adelina Kamal recently visited Davao City to handover 3,000 rice bags to the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development. The AHA Center provided USD100,000 to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to purchase the rice, which is part of ASEAN support to the Philippine Government’s Typhoon Bopha response. 

CATEEL, Davao Oriental — The provincial government here, in close coordination with the World Food Program have started on Wednesday the fourth round of massive distribution of relief goods in the three typhoon-ravaged towns of Boston, Cateel and Baganga this province.

Canada has provided more than P70 million (Cad$ 1.75million) as additional assistance to victims of typhoon ‘Pablo’ (Bopha) in the Philippines.

The Australian Government has increased its assistance to Php307 million (A$7.3 million) in response to the increasing humanitarian needs from Typhoon Pablo.

The Japanese government has provided an additional $4.2 million emergency grant aid to the Philippines for the victims of Typhoon Bopha.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Government of Japan will provide support to help thousands of small scale landholders in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao establish agribusinesses, as part of initiatives to bring peace and stability to the area through economic development.

WFP Philippines National Ambassador Against Hunger KC Concepcion recently visited families affected by Typhoon Bopha who are staying at the evacuation centers in the municipalities of Compostela and New Bataan in Compostela Valley province. During her visit, KC also distributed relief packs from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which include complementary rations of WFP high-energy biscuits and iron-fortified rice. With her were DSWD XI Regional Director Priscilla Nidea-Razon and WFP Philippines Representative and Country Director Stephen Anderson.  

Throughout the holiday season, WFP is working around the clock with the Philippine Government and other partners to respond to the needs of communities affected by Typhoon Bopha.

Isolated communities in the Philippines including hill tribes are facing hunger a week after a typhoon struck, and with roads blocked, supplies will have to be dropped by air, authorities said on Tuesday. (..) Stephen Anderson, country director for the World Food Programme in the Philippines, said help had to be delivered fast to communities that had lost everything -- homes, crops and all "productive assets". "These people are extremely vulnerable ... it's a race against time," Anderson told Reuters.

Hundreds of people were still missing Monday after Typhoon Bopha struck the southern stretches of the Philippines last week, claiming more than 600 lives and displacing more than 5 million people. (..) The typhoon devastated whole villages swamped with sudden floods, triggering deadly landslides and wiping out crops. The U.N. launched an appeal Monday for $65 million to help the Philippines recover by providing food, water and emergency shelter to the worst-hit areas.