The following is attributable to Spokesperson Rebecca Chalif:
Assistant to the Administrator (AtA) of USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance Sarah Charles traveled to the Philippines and Indonesia from May 20 to 26. During the trip, AtA Charles met with USAID humanitarian partners, regional disaster management officials, and representatives of other donor governments working to develop disaster preparedness and resilience in the Indo-Pacific region and globally.
During her trip to the Philippines, AtA Charles visited areas severely impacted by Super Typhoon Rai– known locally as Odette–which affected more than 12 million people after making landfall in December 2021. During a visit to Siargao Island, AtA Charles met with affected communities that are still recovering from the impacts of the storm and rebuilding their lives and livelihoods. In Barangay Caridad, AtA Charles announced an additional $8 million in USAID humanitarian assistance, bringing total U.S. Government assistance to people affected by Super Typhoon Rai to more than $29 million. AtA Charles also met with implementing partners, visited an emergency maternity hospital, and observed the distribution of critical relief items, including shelter and latrine kits, and multi-purpose cash assistance. In Manila, AtA Charles met with U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires, a.i., Heather Variava and USAID Mission Director Ryan Washburn to discuss ongoing recovery needs for communities affected by Super Typhoon Rai. She also met with government officials to discuss ways to further strengthen disaster preparedness for earthquakes and climate-related hazards, and visited the Tondo Community Initiative urban disaster risk reduction (DRR) project to discuss the impact of USAID’s support for disaster preparedness, protection, and livelihood activities with project participants.
AtA Charles also traveled to Bali, Indonesia, to lead the U.S. government delegation for the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, where the international community reviewed progress on the implementation of the Sendai Framework for DRR. In Bali, AtA Charles met with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Office for Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance and the ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance Center to discuss disaster risk management in the region and partnership with USAID. She also met with international and local humanitarian partners, UN partners, and representatives from Australia, Japan, and India to discuss cooperation on DRR and climate adaptation programming in the Asia Pacific region and globally. During a site visit with local partner Yayasan Peta Bencana, AtA Charles participated in a disaster simulation for real-time community reporting, in which she filed a mock disaster report via mobile device. AtA Charles’ participation at the Global Platform highlighted USAID’s long-term investments in disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation and USAID’s progress to make disaster risk reduction more inclusive and locally-led.