Japan helps RP prepare for oncoming storms with aid

By Michaela P. del Callar

07/12/2010

Auspiciously, as the onset of the typhoon season in the country nears, Japan is poised to grant the Philippines $109.8-million worth of loan to fund the rehabilitation of infrastructures destroyed by the back-to-back storms that ravaged the country last year in order for them to be ready and stable for the expected series of storms that are forthcoming.

The assistance package is being extended by the Japanese government in response to a request for aid for the Philippines’ recovery and reconstruction efforts in the wake of the swath of destruction wrought by Typhoons “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” last year on many of areas in the country’s northern region, including Metro Manila.

The reconstruction works on damaged public infrastructures, such as roads and bridges, will be implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said the Japanese assistance is “timely, especially in the light of ongoing efforts to remedy the widespread destruction wrought by Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, and other devastating hydrometeorological events that hit the country in 2009.”

“This Japanese assistance package will provide much-needed funds for rehabilitating our physical structures and assets and improving their carrying and load capacity, thereby hopefully mitigating the impact of future disasters.

“More importantly, this vital package helps us lay the foundations for our climate-proofing efforts. This is a vital task, given that typhoons and extreme weather events can only be expected to increase in intensity and frequency as a result of climate change,” Romulo said.

Close to 1,000 persons died while tens of thousands were displaced when Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, one after the other, hit the country and caused heavy flooding in several areas, including in Metro Manila.

The typhoons also caused agricultural damage, whose cost was estimated at over $160 million.

The United Nations has appealed for $144 million from international donors to make up the relief assistance the world body is providing to the typhoon-affected communities in the Philippines over the next several months.

Japanese Ambassador Makoto Katsura said the loan project will carry out repairs and reinforcement of damaged overpass bridges as well as flood control facilities that were destroyed or eroded in areas in the Luzon region and Mindoro and Palawan island provinces.

The Japanese loan, Katsura said, is expected to improve the living environment of the victims by promoting the early economic recovery in the affected areas and to also help prevent future disasters.

“We hope that this project will assist the victims of these calamities, and support and strengthen the disaster mitigation efforts of the Philippine government. As a close friend and neighbor, Japan will continue to support typhoon victims to reconstruct and improve the living environment in the Philippines,” the envoy said.

With a cumulative amount of $9.144 billion of Japanese Official Development Assistance, the Philippines ranks as the third largest recipient of aid next to China and Indonesia.

In the last 10 years, more than half of the total foreign assistance to the Philippines has been extended by Japan. The Japanese aid has been coursed through multilateral donors such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and various UN agencies.

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