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Tacloban City, PHILIPPINES (November 8, 2016) -- World Vision joins the people of Leyte and the rest of the country in commemorating the third year of typhoon Haiyan that hit central Philippines on November 8, 2013. After 1095 days, rehabilitation work in Haiyan-affected areas remains community-centered recognizing the people’s local capacities and the strong partnerships among NGO’s, community partners, government and donors.
Ajab-Aram Macapagat, WV Typhoon Haiyan Response Director shares, "Building the resilience of Haiyan-affected families has been our focus this year. Since day one of the humanitarian response, it's clear that community participation is the driving force of people's recovery.”
Eastern Visayas region, where Haiyan first hit, has shown significant growth but it still remains as one of the poorest regions in the Philippines. In 2015, Eastern Visayas registered a 3.9 percent gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth rate as reported by National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).
During its rehabilitation phase, World Vision’s Typhoon Haiyan Response was able to support more than 84,000 people – building disaster risk reduction capacity and livelihood support that open up more opportunities for low-income families. Over-all, World Vision was able to reach more than 1.6 million people from emergency to rehabilitation phase in Haiyan-affected areas in the Philippines.
“Three years later, humanitarian work is now transitioning to development work. The task now is to continue building on the gains of recovery and rehabilitation to drive growth and development to pre-Haiyan levels and beyond," Macapagat added.
World Vision’s Hope for Tacloban’s Children and Disaster Risk Reduction Mitigation Projects serve as the rehabilitation component of its 3-yr humanitarian response. Facing completion by the end of this year, these initiatives focus on restoring livelihoods and improving disaster risk reduction practices in 21 urban and rural communities in Tacloban City, Dagami, Dulag and Alangalang in the province of Leyte.
Over the year, thousands of families in World Vision-assisted communities have been involved in clean-up drives, cash for work activities, savings groups, micro-enterprise and entrepreneurship trainings and other livelihood programs such as crop and livestock production.
Communities also beef-up their disaster preparedness by attending disaster risk reduction trainings and community evacuation drills. Families are supplied with quick-run bags as part of World Vision’s Disaster-ready Family (DRF) project, which promotes community engagement as an approach to building resilience.
Restoring public spaces give communities a healthy make over – solar streetlights help keep communities safe at night. Structures like riprap, culvert and footbridges are installed in low-lying and flood-prone areas while vetiver grass and fruit trees are planted along waterways to prevent soil erosion especially during the rainy season.
School repairs and construction of playgrounds in 25 primary and secondary schools, now serve more than 14,900 children. Retrofitting classrooms, toilets and wash areas keep schools safe with children enjoying facilities that are now more conducive for learning.
"By repairing community assets – we’re creating safe spaces for families so they can thrive once again. We’re hopeful that families will continue leading meaningful lives – stronger and better prepared in the face of impending disasters,” Macapagat added.
More recently, World Vision responded in the northern Philippines assisting at least 3000 families affected by supertyphoon Haima (Lawin) which left thousands of destroyed houses and damaged farms, but with minimal casualties due in part for the government's improved disaster preparedness and mitigation measures learning from the Haiyan experience.
World Vision – Typhoon Haiyan Response
QUICK FACTS:
2016 Highlights:
- 32,000 individuals in 17 barangays benefited from Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) trainings and quick run bags
- 200 additional homes, 521 solar street lights, 4 multipurpose centers, 9 community playground and parks and 12 community latrines are now constructed
- 2902 people participated in cash-for-work activities through clean-up drives
- repair works in 25 schools including 14 school playgrounds are now being enjoyed by more than 14,900 students
- 2370 cubic metes of backfill, 3441 linear meters of canals and 667 linear meters of pathways with railings are repaired in highly populated communities
- Bio-engineering works: planting of vetiver grass, bamboo and endemic fruit trees along 15 hectares of lands along river easements in 11 rural barangays in East Leyte as part of mitigation works against flooding and completion of mangrove planting in about 20 hectares of coastal land in Ormoc
- 2209 households benefited from skills-based trainings to enhance small businesses and technical-based competencies
- 3,033 beneficiaries have undergone entrepreneurship trainings
- 804 farmers received agricultural packages (crops, layers and hogs), 3206 families received kitchen garden support
- 205 community savings groups (COMSCA) in Tacloban City with 3,285 members have around Php 5.3 million (USD 116,000) in current savings
3 Years On: Response Summary in numbers (as of Oct 1, 2016)
- 1,638,833 people have been reached to date, in the relief and recovery and rehabilitation phases
- 114,981 people have benefited from livelihoods, including livestock distribution, training for alternative livelihoods, business start-up toolkits and community savings groups (COMSCA)
- 102,957 people have benefitted from cash-for-work
- 706,360 individuals benefited from Disaster Risk Reduction trainings and distribution of quick run bags, early warning and, search and rescue equipment.
- 23,000 school children in 69 schools benefited from repair/construction of classrooms/temporary learning spaces and distribution of learning kits.
- 67,260 people have benefited from distribution of shelter materials and tool kits, construction of homes and trainings.
- 68,504 people have benefited from hygiene promotion and community-led sanitation initiatives
- 72,063 people have benefited from health interventions including: tools and medical supplies at local health facilities in the area of nutritional assessment; equipment for obstetric and maternal care has also been provided to health facilities, and extensive repair and reconstruction work to health centers and stations.
