MANILA, Dec 23 (NNN-XINHUA) – China offered one million U.S. dollars in cash and 4,725 tonnes of rice yesterday, to help the victims of Typhoon Rai in the Philippines.
Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines, Huang Xilian, announced the assistance at the handover ceremony of the rice, the last batch of the 10,000 tonnes that China donated.
The emergency cash assistance is to support the relief and recovery efforts of the Philippine government and people, against the disaster, brought by the devastating typhoon, Huang said, expressing hope that the fresh batch of rice will contribute to the Philippines’ humanitarian relief operations in typhoon-hit areas.
On Tuesday, the Chinese embassy in Manila raised 20,000 food packages containing rice, canned food, and noodle packs. Huang said, the relief goods had reached typhoon-affected areas such as Cebu, Leyte, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Bohol, Cagayan de Oro City, and Surigao City, among others.
Huang said, China will continue to support the Philippines’ relief and recovery efforts “to the best of its ability.”
“China and the Philippines are close and friendly neighbours, who always help and support each other through trying times,” the ambassador said.
Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte, declared Tuesday night, a state of calamity in several regions, to speed up relief efforts for victims of Typhoon Rai.
Philippine Social Welfare Director, Emmanuel Privado, who received the donated rice from China yesterday, thanked the Chinese government for its generosity.
Privado said, the Chinese donations are timely, saying, his government is in the thick of distributing relief goods to the typhoon victims.
“We express our heartfelt gratitude to the people of China for these donations. This is so timely. The typhoon victims will benefit from these,” he said.
Typhoon Rai, which battered the Philippines last week, affected more than 1.3 million people and is feared to have killed at least 375, in the central and southern Philippine and parts of the main Luzon island.– NNN-XINHUA
