In partnership with a group of volunteers led by Fr. Zenki Manabat, BDO Foundation mounted relief operations in the town of Itbayat in the province of Batanes after a series of earthquakes battered the area. The volunteers visited evacuation sites in the country’s northernmost municipality and distributed 1,000 packs containing food, rice and water to help earthquake-stricken families.
The foundation’s disaster response efforts were supported by the Philippine Navy, local officials and police personnel, who helped bring the relief goods from the provincial capital of Batanes to the island of Itbayat, which was hit hardest by the quakes. Relief packs were ferried through the navy’s BRP Pangasinan.
BDO Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of BDO Unibank, provides aid in communities across the country affected by natural or man-made disasters. As a follow through to its relief work, the foundation pursues long-term rehabilitation and reconstruction programs in disaster-hit provinces.
Magnitude 5.4 and 5.9 earthquakes, and an estimated 180 aftershocks jolted Batanes, damaging homes, roads and school buildings, and affecting thousands of residents. The entire province was placed under a state of calamity due to the devastation caused by the twin tremors.