Japan funds RP typhoon alert upgrade
Agence France-Presse | 05/27/2009 6:03 PM
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Japan on Wednesday extended a P2-billion (42.3 million-dollar) grant to the Philippines to help it improve its defenses against deadly typhoons.
The grant package from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) includes funding for a P1.6 billion project to replace three meteorological alert systems along the country's Pacific Ocean coast.
It "aims to effectively prevent damage caused by tropical storms or typhoons by enhancing the capability of (the government) in weather monitoring and weather information or warning dissemination," the economic planning department said.
Japan is the biggest provider of development aid to the Philippines.
In December 2007 JICA signed an agreement with the Philippines weather service for Japanese experts to conduct a study into improving the Southeast Asian archipelago's weather radar systems.
The agreement came several weeks after two typhoons killed more than a thousand people in the Bicol region southeast of Manila.
Funding for bridge repair, as well as scholarship slots for Filipino government employees at Japanese universities are also included in the grant.
"We appreciate the Japanese government’s initiative to provide, among others, radar systems, dams and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure such as bridges in the country," Economic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto said.
Typhoons and other natural disasters kill hundreds and displace millions every year in the Philippines, which like Japan is part of a so-called "ring of fire" chain of islands created by volcanic activity along the Pacific Rim.
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