Catholic Church rolls out aid
MANILA, Philippines—The Catholic Church is involved in rehabilitation efforts for the survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”
Fr. Edu Gariguez, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace (CBCP-Nassa), on Friday said that the Church has provided P563 million for relief, rehabilitation and recovery efforts that have benefited more than 2 million survivors of Yolanda.
Gariguez said that the amount, mostly donations from 41 various Caritas Internationalis member organizations on six continents, makes up the total budget of the Church’s humanitarian arm for Yolanda recovery.
He said the funds were being used for the implementation of the Church’s integrated human development program REACH Philippines (Recovery Assistance to Vulnerable Communities Affected by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines), particularly in severely damaged communities.
Among these areas are the 35 parishes comprising the Archdioceses of Iloilo, Capiz, Cebu and Palo; the Dioceses of Kalibo, Antique, Borongan and Calbayog; and the Apostolic Vicariate of Puerto Princesa.
Gariguez said the CBCP-Nassa, along with its partner dioceses, was overseeing the construction of permanent houses or disaster-resilient shelters for storm survivors. Around 1,600 of these have been completed and are ready for occupation, he said.
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UNDP exec returns
Haoliang Xu, assistant administrator and regional director for Asia and the Pacific of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), is returning to Eastern Visayas today for Yolanda one-year anniversary commemorations.
Xu will visit Tacloban and Palo, Leyte province, today “to witness ongoing recovery initiatives,” the UNDP said in a statement.
Xu flew to Tacloban at the height of disaster response operations in Yolanda-hit areas on Nov. 25 and helped lead efforts to implement the UNDP’s emergency employment program.
The program provided temporary livelihood to 41,470 survivors as part of debris-clearing efforts that covered nearly 2,200 schools, hospitals and other public facilities, and some 1,700 km of roadway. Reports from Tina G. Santos and Tarra Quismundo
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