The European Commission will allocate €7 million as emergency aid to the victims of Typhoon Bopha in Philippines. With this aid, the total humanitarian funding is up to €10 million since the region was struck by Typhoon Bopha force in December.

Experts from the European Commission's humanitarian aid service ECHO visited the typhoon zone last month. They discovered critical gaps in the relief effort, especially in the areas of shelter, nutrition, basic health care and income support. For this reason, the European Union is increasing its emergency aid to the victims of Typhoon in Philippines Bopha by €7 million. In December 2012, €3 million was provided as emergency assistance to victims of Typhoon Bopha in Philippines.

In particular, the money will be used to fund repairs to houses damaged by the typhoon, provide food assistance, help address high levels of malnutrition especially among children and support the improvement of basic health services in the affected provinces.

According to the Commission, following Typhoon Bopha's trail of destruction in early December (the UN reported that some 250,000 homes, public buildings and businesses were damaged or destroyed), the region has been struck twice by strong storms. These caused further landslides and floods, forcing more people to abandon their homes.