Philippines - As the one year anniversary of Typhoon Haiyan approaches on Saturday (8/11), IOM today launched a new report assessing its Communications with Communities (CwC) efforts to engage the affected population in the months following the disaster.

The report ‘Starting the Conversation: Information, Feedback and Accountability in Post-Typhoon Philippines’ shares findings and recommendations from an in-depth assessment of IOM CwC activities following the storm, which was one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded, leaving a trail of destruction and at least 6,300 people dead.

The assessment was conducted in collaboration with Leyte Normal University in Tacloban, the city hardest hit by Haiyan, and is based on 400 face-to-face interviews, as well as telephone interviews and focus group discussions with community members.

It examines the communications preferences in Tacloban during the emergency and recovery phases, identifying radio as the most accessed and preferred media channel following the typhoon.

The report notes that most people interviewed felt that they did not receive sufficient aid-related information after the storm, nor did they have a sufficient voice in the humanitarian response.

According to IOM Director of Communications Leonard Doyle, the report will contribute to discussions within the international community examining the importance of information, feedback and accountability for effective humanitarian operations.

One of the key actors leading these discussions is the Communications with Disaster-Affected Communities (CDAC) Network, a cross-sector initiative among aid agencies, UN organizations, IOM, the Red Cross Movement, media development organizations and technology providers that recognize information and two-way communication as key humanitarian deliverables.

“When a community is in crisis, good two-way communications channels are essential to enable people to make well-informed decisions and to give them a voice in the humanitarian response,” Doyle notes.

The report reviews several communications tools developed and disseminated through collaboration with Tacloban’s Radyo Abante as part of IOM’s Tindog Kita (‘Rise Together’) communications campaign, which included a radio drama, interactive talk show and key message song.

Of the communications components, a song developed jointly with Health Songs International was the most popular and widely known. The report notes community concerts, broadcasts on other radio stations, as well as mobile downloads also played key roles in disseminating the song.

The report also provides recommendations for ongoing and future communications campaigns in Haiyan-affected areas. 

To download the report, please go to:http://philippineresponse.iom.int/sites/default/files/pdf/starting_the_conversation.pdf

To learn more about IOM’s Typhoon Haiyan response please go to: http://philippineresponse.iom.int

For more information please contact
Amy Rhoades
IOM HQ
Email: arhoades@iom.int