Catholic Church to roll out P13-M relief aid for Typhoon Lando victims

The Philippine Catholic Church will be allocating P13.21 million for victims of Typhoon Lando (Koppu) that left a swathe of devastation especially in central and northern Luzon.

In a statement on Wednesday, the National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA)—the social action arm of the Church–said "most vulnerable" Typhoon Lando victims stand to benefit from the emergency assistance program.

In an emergency appeal to the Caritas Internationalis confederation, NASSA (which is also Caritas Philippines), said it is planning to help 25,000 people through the provision of ready-to-eat food, water, hygiene kits, emergency shelter, and other non-food items such as blankets, sleeping mats and mosquito nets.

“We are aiming to help the most vulnerable people such as the elderly, disabled, single parents and those who are ill from the worst-hit and hard-to-reach areas. We are very thankful to our Caritas networks around the globe for its immediate response to our appeal,” said Fr. Edwin Gariguez, NASSA's executive secretary.    

Cordaid (Caritas Netherlands) and the Catholic Relief Services (Caritas USA) have already pledged P2.12 million and P2.32 million, respectively, the statement said.

The emergency program will initially cover 15 provinces being assisted by 16 dioceses in Central and Southern Luzon, Cagayan Valley, Cordillera, CAR, Ilocos and Calabarzon—particularly Aurora, Quezon, Cagayan, Nueva Vizcaya, Qurino, Nueva Ecija, Kalinga, Benguet, Pangasinan, Zambales, Rizal, Cavite, Batanes, La Union, and Abra.

“We are still waiting for more data from our assessment teams on the ground. [Relief efforts in] these areas may still change depending on the needs of the affected dioceses,” Gariguez added.   

So far, data gathered by NASSA from its diocesan social action networks, showed that among those badly needing assistance are Aurora, Quirino, Zambales, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Nueva Vizcaya, La Union, and Cagayan.  

Typhoon Lando's death toll rose to 26 as on Wednesday morning, while some 300,000 people have been displaced since it made landfall over Casiguran, Aurora early last Sunday.

As of this morning, ‘Lando’ was already downgraded to a tropical depression, but the heavy rains it brought had resulted in severe flooding, landslides; and its strong winds damaged homes, knocked trees and electric posts down.

Lando came two years after super Typhoon Yolanda destroyed the Visayas regions, leaving over 6,000 people dead. — LBG, GMA News