Malaysian aid for Typhoon Yolanda-affected families in Kalibo

BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

About 2,000 families in the town of Kalibo will benefit this week from the bags of rice donated by the Malaysia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry. 

The rice bags are allotted to aid the victims of super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) from 16 barangays in the capital town of Kalibo.  

Typhoon Yolanda wrought damage to agriculture and infrastructure to the town of Kalibo on November 8, 2013. 

Representatives from ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) Tier 3 Programme in the Philippines will turn-over the donated rice on July 31 to Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for distribution to the affected Typhoon Yolanda families.

 

The ceremonial turn-over of humanitarian assistance from Malaysian government will be held at Kalibo Magsaysay Park in Kalibo, Aklan. It will be witnessed by the local officials of Kalibo headed by Mayor William Lachica and National Food Authority (NFA) executives in the region.

The APTERR stocks under Tier 3 is a mechanism for the release of stockpiled emergency rice reserves collectively owned by APTERR member-countries in response to an acute and urgent emergency demand to a recipient country.  

The 13 member-countries of APTERR Council are Thailand, Laos, Brunei, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines plus Korea, China and Japan. APTERR aims to address the food shortages caused by natural disasters or man-made calamities through the provision of food assistance and nutrition improvement programmes to people in need.

In 1979, the ASEAN Emergency Rice Reserve (AERR) was established as part of the implementation of the ASEAN Food Security Reserve Agreement (AFSR) signed by the ASEAN Ministers of Foreign Affairs.

It was renamed APTERR in 2009.