Manila, Nov. 12 (CNA) Taiwan donated US$400,000 on Friday to the Philippines to help with the Southeast Asian country's reconstruction efforts after it suffered heavy losses from Tropical Storm Nalgae's destruction last month.

Silvestre Bello III, the Philippines' representative to Taiwan, received the donation from Taiwan's representative to the Philippines Michael Hsu (徐佩勇) at a ceremony in Manila.

The tropical storm swept through the Philippines at the end of October, killing 159 people and injuring another 146 with about 30 still missing, according to statistics released by the country's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

The NDRRMC data showed the Philippines suffered about 5.075 billion Philippine pesos (US$86.60 million) in infrastructure damage and almost 1.533 billion pesos in losses to the fishery and livestock breeding industries with the total losses of 6.397 billion pesos in the country's agriculture sector after the storm hit.

Bello expressed gratitude to Taiwan's government and people for their generosity, which he said would strengthen the Philippines' relief efforts as Nalgae caused heavy losses to Cagayan and Isabela, the two major agricultural provinces in the country.

In the past year, Taiwan has donated US$1.10 million to the Philippines government to help pay for relief efforts and reconstruction after natural disasters.

That includes a donation of US$200,000 made to the Philippine province of Abra in August to help with reconstruction efforts following a magnitude 7.0 earthquake in late July.

The Taipei Economic and Culture Office in the Philippines said Taiwan will also continue to work closely with the Philippines in a wide range of areas, such as agriculture, education and tourism, and enhance bilateral cooperation and partnership, which is expected to improve the welfare of people in both countries.