On 17 December 2013 Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Foreign Ministry Mr. Narong Sasitorn, chaired a meeting of the Committee on Disaster Relief Assistance to the Philippines for Typhoon Haiyan to evaluate and assess Thailand’s further contributions to the affected people. 

Thailand has made initial contributions which included an airlift shipment on 19 November of thousands of ready-to-use aid packages donated by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn and  the Friends in Need (of “Pa”) Volunteers Foundation. The Committee considered Thailand’s ensuing disaster relief contributions which includes 5000 tons of rice (under the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve scheme), and financial donations from the Thai public, including the private sector, up to the amount of 53.6 million baht ($USD 1.78 million) which will be handed over to the Government of the Philippines by the Royal Thai Embassy in Manila. In addition, the Committee also agreed to successively transport 131 tons of relief supplies donated by the Thai Royal Family.

The Government of the Philippines has estimated that the destruction caused by Typhoon Haiyan will require 7.8 hundred billion baht (($USD 26 billon) in reconstruction costs. Thailand has been one of the largest contributors from the ASEAN group, with total contributions amounting to 254.3 million baht (comprising 88.8 million baht of in-kind donations and 165.35 million baht worth of cash donations).

The Committee on Disaster Relief Assistance to the Philippines for Typhoon Haiyan has been the Royal Thai Government’s central mechanism in managing disaster relief efforts for the Philippines and comprises of 10 government agencies such as the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defense, Public Health, Commerce, Finance, and the Thai Red Cross.