The government of Norway announced that it is giving 20 million kroner in immediate humanitarian aid to the Philippines. "I want to express my sympathy with the Filipino people who had been hard-hit by this catastrophe. We are closely monitoring the humanitarian situation in the Philippines and will provide faster assistance hen as soon as we get a better overview what the needs are," Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende said in the statement. The assistance came in the wake of the massive destruction caused by the Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.