Japan gave $5 million to Typhoon Odette victims which made the country the number one donor, a representative of the World Food Programme said Wednesday.

WFP Country Director Brenda Barton said the amount Japan donated was used for rice and food voucher programs.

“Out of all the donors that gave us funding, Japan is the number one donor. (They gave) $5 million. That went toward rice and it went towards these voucher programs,” Barton told The Daily Manila Shimbun.

“We have this arrangement (with) local retailers and they redeem the voucher and choose from the list of food items to feed their families. And so many of them were buying fresh produce and basic staples. And that still is underway now,” she said.

The WFP is a humanitarian organization under the United Nations that provides food assistance to countries during disasters and works with communities to improve nutrition.

Typhoon ''Odette'', which first made landfall in Siargao on December 16, 2021 caused 407 deaths in the Visayas and Mindanao, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said.

The typhoon also caused P13.3 billion in crop damage, data from the Department of Agriculture showed. Jaspearl Tan/DMS