Yolanda survivors receive education, health facilities

CATBALOGAN CITY, Philippines – Officials of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Friday turned over education and health facilities to survivors of Super Typhoon Yolanda in Tacloban City.

The facilities were part of the US government’s continuing assistance for the rehabilitation of areas devastated by Yolanda.

USAID chief strategy officer Carla Koppell and USAID Philippines’ mission director Susan Brems led the inauguration of five new classroom buildings in Panalaron Central School as well as a birthing facility and a tuberculosis treatment center in Barangay Diit.

Mayor Alfred Romualdez accompanied Koppell and Brems to an area where the transitional shelters for 130 families from coastal villages were constructed by US foreign disaster assistance in partnership with the Catholic Relief Services.

The US government has provided at least $143 million to help the Philippines recover from Yolanda’s devastation.

In addition to the humanitarian assistance, USAID supports rehabilitation and recovery activities in typhoon-affected areas, particularly in Leyte. 

The fund was spent for the construction of school buildings, hospitals, health facilities and trading centers.