US announces further $25m aid to Philippines after typhoon Haiyan
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Version 0 of 1. The US is to provide nearly $25m (£15.2m) in additional humanitarian aid to help the Philippines deal with the devastation wrought by typhoon Haiyan last month, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, said after touring the worst-hit region. Kerry flew to central Tacloban city, where he visited a food distribution centre and talked with officials and survivors. "This is a devastation unlike anything that I have ever seen at this scale," Kerry said at a temporary USAid headquarters in Tacloban. "It is really quite stunning," he said. "It looks like a war zone and to many people it is." The new food aid, shelter materials, water and other supplies he announced bring the total US assistance package to $86m for one of its closest Asian allies. One of the most ferocious typhoons to hit the Philippines, Haiyan left more than 6,000 people dead and nearly 1,800 others missing. It damaged or swept away more than 1.1m houses and injured more than 27,000 people. More than 4 million people were displaced, with about 101,000 remaining in 300 emergency shelters in central provinces. In Manila, President Benigno Aquino III appealed for help from diplomats and international aid agencies, saying Haiyan left massive damage and losses amounting to $12.9bn. Accompanied by cabinet members dealing with the typhoon's aftermath, Aquino presented a four-year reconstruction plan to build shelters away from newly declared danger zones, repair infrastructure, revive the livelihoods of tens of thousands of farmers and fishermen, and restore government services. Aquino said his government would aim for resilience from future storms as it helps the typhoon-ravaged provinces recover. "We cannot allow ourselves to be trapped in a vicious cycle of destruction and reconstruction," Aquino said. "We are going to build back better." Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |