US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met President Bongbong Marcos.
During the courtesy visit of US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to President Bongbong Marcos, “another million dollars” was secured for the typhoon victims.
The recent super typhoon that battered the Philippines was Super Typhoon Pepito with the international name “Man-yi”. The sixth major storm to hit the Philippines in less than a month left several deaths and based on the recent post from PAGASA, it has already exited the Philippine Area of Responsibility.
According to the country’s disaster management agencies, Pepito triggered landslides and huge floods. PAGASA had warned of a “potentially catastrophic” consequence from Pepito which forced the early evacuation of thousands of people.
Before Pepito, there were Severe Tropical Storm Kristine, Super Typhoon Leon, Typhoon Marce, Typhoon Nika, and Typhoon Ofel. According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) on Monday 685,071 individuals fled their homes to seek safe shelter from Nika, Ofel, and Pepito.
Of these six cyclones, the Northern Luzon received the most damage. 295,576 families in the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Mimaropa, Bicol Region, and Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) were affected. As per damage to properties, Php 469.8 million was recorded as damage to infrastructure and Php 8.6 million as damage to agriculture.
With all these cyclones that hit the country, The United States “has secured another million dollars” to help the victims. This was confirmed by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during his courtesy visit to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Malacañang.
The US would also want to discuss “how we could make additional assistance at this time”. The “secured another million dollars” is in addition to the 100,000 pounds of supplies that were delivered following the occurrence of the typhoon.
“It was your (Marcos’) vision a while back for these sites to be used to do exactly what you’ve described: prepositioning supplies, food, and other elements, other personal elements in times of urgent need,” Austin said to President Marcos.
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