The Department of Foreign Affairs announced today that it will provide €400,000 emergency aid to the Philippines to assist the victims of the recent typhoons and tropical storms there.
The Irish assistance will be channelled mainly through the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), which has overall responsibility for co-ordinating the UN Agencies' response to the disaster.
The aid will also be distributed through the International Federation of the Red Cross which is responding to the disaster and which has the capacity on the ground to deliver humanitarian aid effectively.
The Minister of State for Development Cooperation and Human Rights, Mr Conor Lenihan, said: "The Government will work with partners including, the UN and the Red Cross, to assist in meeting the emergency humanitarian needs for the relief of the communities affected, in order to re-establish basic facilities and other essential services as soon as possible."
According to the latest estimates over 760 people have died, about 800 people are missing and 30,000 homes were damaged or destroyed as a result of the flash floods and landslides following the storms.
At least three million Filipinos have been affected by the four storms. Damage to crops, fishing and infrastructure is estimated at 4.69 billion pesos ($83 million).
Today a further seven people were reported killed when a landslide buried several houses in the Bicol region of the eastern Philippines as a result of tropical storms that hit the country from late November to early December.