Philippines - IOM and the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) today signed a partnership agreement to construct additional transitional shelters for Typhoon Haiyan survivors in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines. 

Nearly ten months after the massive storm, more than 24,000 people remain displaced and are still living in 64 sites across the affected areas.  Many of these are tent cities and makeshift shelters located in coastal flood-prone areas. 

The new transitional sites will provide safer, more robust temporary shelter for these most vulnerable typhoon-affected communities. The process of finding permanent resettlement sites, complicated by a complex process of land negotiations, continues.

Under the partnership, some 3,200 families will be provided with transitional shelters, including bunkhouses and single detached units, to be constructed by IOM.  DSWD will fund the construction of 2,700 units worth nearly USD 4 million, while IOM will provide counterpart funds amounting to nearly USD 800,000 for the remaining 500 units.

The agreement, signed by DSWD Secretary Corazon ‘Dinky’ Soliman and IOM’s Chief of Mission in the Philippines, Marco Boasso, is significant because it is the first time that IOM has been able to call directly on the funds of the Philippines national government to support a project. 

IOM’s Chief of Mission in the Philippines, Marco Boasso, commented at the signing: “This is a great moment, showing the mutual trust between our host government and our intergovernmental, humanitarian organization.”

Secretary Soliman noted: “IOM is a long-time partner of the DSWD in camp coordination and camp management, as well as in the implementation of temporary and transitional shelters for displaced families in areas affected by man-made and natural disasters.”

As co-lead with DSWD in camp coordination and management, IOM is committed to mitigating the effects of disasters on internal displacement in the Philippines and has so far transferred nearly 18,000 typhoon Haiyan survivors from tent cities and other evacuation centres to safer transitional sites, as well as providing crucial humanitarian aid since the first days of the calamity.

For more information please contact

Marco Boasso
IOM Manila
Email: mboasso@iom.int