Typhoon Haiyan wrecked more than one million houses, presenting aid agencies and survivors with an urgent and major challenge - rebuilding homes in less vulnerable areas, more strongly than before, while funds run out and building material supplies dwindle
BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - There is an urgent and extensive need for housing in the central Philippines to replace the million or more homes damaged or destroyed by super typhoon Haiyan, according to aid agencies which also see this as an opportunity to build new houses better able to withstand future storms and quakes in the disaster-prone country.
Haiyan, one of the strongest storms ever recorded, made landfall on Nov. 8, whipping up waves and winds that flattened homes, uprooted trees and wrecked infrastructure, killing more than 5,200 people and injuring nearly 26,000.
Nearly three weeks later, debris still covers much of the affected area, some 3.5 million people remain displaced and public services are only gradually being restored.
“Shelter is the main item for families right now after food,” said Sonia Molina Metzger, a shelter expert with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies (IFRC), which coordinates international aid agencies' work on shelter under the United Nations’ “cluster” system.
“In every culture, your main savings are put into the house so it’s a real big setback for the family whenever you lose your house,” she added.
Elizabeth Tromans, coordinating the relief efforts of Catholic Relief Services, said the need for shelter is becoming “even more critical” as the rainy season continues. “The first thing each and every person has told me is that they’re trying to cope, but that they don’t know what they will do about their homes,” she told Thomson Reuters Foundation from Palo, a town some 10 km from Tacloban, one of the hardest-hit areas.
People are starting to rebuild their shattered homes, recycling pieces of wood, bamboo and other material they have salvaged. The survivors themselves and the aid agencies hoping to support them face substantial challenges, from the huge scale of the devastation to funding shortages, unclear land ownership and the need to resettle survivors away from places at risk of future disasters - in an area made up of islands.
LONG ROAD AHEAD
“The challenges are enormous …” said Tromans, noting that the great demand for heavy equipment and items like chainsaws has made it difficult even to clear away the debris before new housing can be built.
There is also a shortage of shelter supplies as aid agencies were responding to two other disasters that struck the country before Haiyan - a 7.2-magnitude earthquake in Bohol in central Philippines and clashes between the army and Muslim separatists in the south that displaced tens of thousands of people in Zamboanga .
The storm damage was great partly because much of the housing was self-built and of poor quality. Although the Philippines has a building code which public buildings have to follow, it is widely accepted that private homes rarely meet these standards.
The IFRC’s Metzger said there are inexpensive but helpful ways to storm- and quake-proof a house and the Red Cross is planning a building safety drive among home owners. Posters distributed by the IFRC and Philippines Red Cross show easy ways to make beams, roofs and foundations stronger.
International Organisation for Migration (IOM) spokesman Joe Lowry also emphasised the importance of helping people who had already started to rebuild their homes.
“It’s not because it saves us money but because of people’s dignity and to give them some focus and meaning in their lives, because when you lose your home, you lose your dream and identity,” he said.
Aid agencies also said that building back safer rests not only on the techniques of house construction but also the location. Local media have reported that people who lived close to the shoreline will not be allowed to return, but aid workers say the government must also take into account whether resettlement areas offer job and education opportunities.
A lack of land titles and unclear ownership, which has dogged many resettlement and shelter programmes in the Philippines after disasters, is also likely to rear its head here.
LONG-TERM SUPPORT NEEDED
IOM’s Lowry said the quantity and quality of materials available locally were also important. “We want to only use the best quality material and at the same time support the local economy,” he said.
“The tools and ancillary materials to make the homes storm-proof must also be in place, not just the hardware, and instructions on how to build a good shelter should be in the local languages because there may yet be more tropical storms in this season,” he told Thomson Reuters Foundation - adding that tens of thousands of people in Bohol and Zamboanga need similar support.
Funding shortages may have an impact. A recent U.N. Report said the number of available tents, tarpaulins and shelter items is rapidly decreasing and a lack of funding means many agencies are unable to start a second wave of procurement.
The IFRC’s Metzger, who conducted an assessment in northern Cebu where Haiyan made its second landfall, said help with new housing must be sustained. “We found that most of the economy and income is from the men who work in Cebu city while their families live in northern Cebu,” she said.
“Now their houses are destroyed, and the men don’t want to come back to Cebu city until the family has some sort of shelter, but that also means that until they have a house, the families will not have any income,” she added.
CRS’ Tromans is urging the international community and aid agencies to continue to help until people in the area have fully recovered. “We are only at the beginning of this effort. Even when the spotlight fades, Filipino communities are going to need our help for years to come,” she said. “We anticipate this effort will span anywhere from 3 to 5 years.”
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