ILOILO CITY – The Office of Civil Defense-6 has released almost P162-million worth of aid to families affected by the El Niño climate phenomenon in Western Visayas and the eruption of Kanlaon Volcano in Negros Occidental.
FERNANDEZ (left). (PIA-6)
Bulk of the aid was for El Niño response with P120.6 million consisting of food, water, and livelihood assistance.
OCD-6 Regional Director Raul Fernandez said these assistance was in partnership with other government agencies and distributed to local government units (LGUs) in Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental provinces as well as the highly urbanized cities of Iloilo and Bacolod.
Speaking at Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas of the Philippine Information Agency-6 here, Fernandez, chairperson of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council-6, said that OCD-6 distributed P4.2 million in rice assistance.
He added the aid was meant to ease the negative impact of El Niño.
In Western Visayas, Fernandez said that 1.8 million people were affected by El Niño which caused P1.71 billion in damage to the agricultural sector.
The OCD-6 also facilitated the release of P41.23 million worth of assistance to people affected by the Mount Kanlaon eruption in June.
More than 33,000 residents were affected and ash fall damaged 2,680 houses.
The OCD-6 is preparing for the onset of La Niña.