Philippines - On 8th November 2013 Typhoon Haiyan slammed into the Visayas region of the Central Philippines, killing over 6,300 people and leaving four million homeless. Over a million houses were destroyed by the strongest recorded storm in history and the damage ran into billions of dollars. A year later, IOM is highlighting the need for better preparedness and response systems to avert future tragedies in the Philippines and elsewhere. 

IOM had staff on the ground within 48 hours of Haiyan making landfall. In the days and months that followed, the agency took a lead in tracking displacement, building up a reliable and real-time picture of the most urgent challenges, and responding to the most acute shelter, protection and health-related needs.

During the first six months, IOM teams distributed over 97,000 non-food items including blankets, buckets and solar lamps and 63,000 emergency shelter kits comprising tarpaulins, ropes, nails and hammers. Over 100,000 individuals received medical help and communication teams are still working with communities to provide thousands of affected families with practical advice and a channel to air their concerns.

IOM is now focusing on the large scale recovery phase and has distributed more than 30,000 recovery shelter kits (a package including coco lumber, metal roofing, and other construction materials),  training in safer shelter construction, cash grants and construction monitoring. All of this is designed to help affected families to improve and rebuild their damaged homes.

The massive recovery project includes the construction of transitional shelters designed to last for a minimum of two years, until durable housing solutions are identified.  Almost 1,500 such shelters have been built and additional 400 are under construction. The multi-agency effort is ensuring that the transitional sites offer access to water, sanitation and protection services, as well as shelter.

To help rebuild the region’s shattered infrastructure and to promote economic recovery, IOM’s shelter programme is helping local farmers to process and mill fallen coconut trees. IOM uses this local coco lumber from fallen or damaged coconut trees in its shelters, providing a source of cash for affected farming families, and speeding up debris removal.

IOM has also supported livelihood recovery through a Cash-for-Work programme. In Guiuan alone, activities have so far created 116,000 person-days of work – significantly supporting the economic recovery of affected communities.

Besides IOM’s own shelter assistance, the organization is supporting the Philippines’ Department of Social Welfare and Development to build transitional sites in Tacloban City and Guiuan, which was officially opened today in a ceremony attended by Philippines President Benigno Aquino III.

“This was an unprecedented disaster, both in terms of the lives lost and lives disrupted,” said IOM Philippines Chief of Mission Marco Boasso. “The government and the international community mounted a massive response – perhaps too slowly at first – but we have learned a lot. First and foremost, one year after Haiyan, we know that we need to be better prepared for future disasters so that next time communities will be prepared and ready to act.”

“One thing we can be sure of is that weather-related disasters are becoming more frequent, more intense, and affecting more people. It is our obligation and our duty to respond, but also to prepare and to mitigate the impact. We cannot rest on our laurels when so much is at stake,” he warned.

Boasso pointed to the training of over 40,000 people in safer construction practices as testament to the organization’s commitment to disaster risk reduction.  IOM has also assessed the condition of evacuation centres in the worst-affected region and worked on hazard and vulnerability mapping. It is also warehousing shelter materials, tarpaulins, blankets, solar lamps and medicines to allow faster response in future disasters.

A year after the disaster, not enough land has been yet identified (or is available) to build sufficient and safe transitional sites. Some 4,500 displaced families continue to live in displacement sites across the Haiyan-affected region, many of them in unsuitable conditions. Improved shelter, health, protection and communication are urgently needed in Haiyan-affected regions. While addressing these needs, IOM will continue to support the government in its medium and long-term recovery and rehabilitation plans.

“Thanks to the resilience of the Filipino spirit, the generosity of the international community, and the partnership of organizations like IOM, what was ground zero is now on much higher ground,” said Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman, who has worked closely with IOM staff, particularly in Tacloban and Guiuan, in the year since the disaster.

For more information please contact

IOM Philippines

Joe Lowry

Email: jlowry@iom.int

Tel. +63 915 8125566 

Or

Marco Boasso

Email: mboasso@iom.int

Tel. +63 9178485306 (Both are currently in Tacloban.)