DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The City government of Davao is set to give P10 million as financial and relief assistance to five provinces affected by Tropical Depression Usman.
In a special session on Thursday, January 3, the City Council approved to allocate a portion of the city’s P130.8 million Quick Response Fund (QRF) for 2019.
The provinces of Oriental Mindoro, Sorsogon, Albay, Camarines Sur, and Camarines Norte will each receive P1 million in cash assistance amounting to P5 million.
The remaining P5 million will be in a form of relief goods for the provinces of Sorsogon, Albay, and Camarines Sur.
“The P10 million will come from the QRF, P5 million of which will be in cash and the (recipient) local governments will decide on how they are going to use it,” City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMO) chief Alfredo Baluran said.
Baluran added that the remaining P5 million will be in the form of relief goods for those victims who are still in evacuation areas.
On Thursday, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported 122 deaths related to TD Usman.
A total of 75,326 families or 308,451 individuals were affected by TD Usman that made landfall in Borongan, Eastern Samar last December 29.
The NDRRMC also reported that 28 are still missing while 60 individuals were injured.
Baluran said the identified provinces will be the first batch of local government units that will receive the city’s assistance while other provinces are still under assessment.
“We cannot give assistance to those provinces that are not under state of calamity, we need to wait for them (to be declared as such). Rest assured, the city will help other areas that are also affected by the typhoon,” Baluran said.
In September last year, the city government of Davao released P20.5 million assistance to the areas declared as state of calamity due to Typhoon Ompong (Mangkhut) in Luzon.
Davao City also shelled out P83.4 million from its disaster fund to aid the victims of Tropical Storm Vinta (Tembin) in December 2017. (davaotoday.com)
