Project: Emergency Disaster Relief in the Philippines

On September and October 2009, two devastating typhoons hit the national capital region and northern Philippines, affecting millions of families and killed over a thousand people, including those who succumbed to diseases. Currently, 130,000 people remain displaced in overcrowded government evacuation centers in unsanitary conditions. AAI has been involved in humanitarian aid operations from the onset, distributing water purifiers and vital medicines to needy communities.

Northern Philippines is also the grain basket of the country, producing more than 50 percent of the country's rice, the staple food of Filipinos. These typhoons wrought over $700 million worth of damage in the agricultural sector, and cost a loss of 13 percent of 4th quarter rice production. This has led the Philippines, the largest rice importer in the world, to import even more rice from its Southeast Asian neighbors.