Dr Ana Isabel Sánchez Ruiz Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines (Photo from THEPHILBIZNEWS/MAS)
The European Union will provide EUR 800,000 (PhP 45.27 million) in emergency funds to assist victims of the earthquake that struck North Luzon on July 27.
The funding aims to provide safe drinking water and sanitation, hygiene, mental health and psychosocial support services, as well as education to the most vulnerable in the hardest hit-areas.
Chargé d’Affaires a.i. Ana Isabel Sánchez Ruiz of the Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines, said that: “With this assistance, the European Union reaffirms its commitment and solidarity towards the victims of humanitarian disasters in the Philippines.”
She also said that the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) had activated satellite imagery and other data (Copernicus Maps) to assist relief agencies in their delivery of emergency assistance in Northern Luzon.
Copernicus is an EU programme aimed at developing European information services based on satellite Earth Observation and in situ (non-space) data. The objective of Copernicus is to monitor and forecast the state of the environment on land, sea and in the atmosphere, in order to support climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, the efficient management of emergency situations and the improvement of the security of every citizen.