Attachments
Background and Objectives of the Case Study
The World Bank’s Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the European Union (EU) are working on a guide for developing disaster recovery frameworks (DRF). This guide aims to help governments and partners plan for resilient post disaster recovery while contributing to longer term sustainable development. It is based on practices gleaned from country experiences in disaster recovery around the world. Hence, the development of the DRF Guide entailed the development of country-level case studies as well as thematic case studies on disaster recovery.
These case studies have been designed to collect and analyze information on: i) disaster recovery standards and principles adapted by countries for specific disasters; ii) planning efforts for making such recovery efficient, equitable and resilient; iii) policies, institutions and capacities to implement and monitor disaster recovery; and iv) ways and means for translating the gains of resilient recovery into longer-term risk reduction and resilient development.
Importantly, these case studies aim to learn from, and not evaluate, country reconstruction initiatives. Practices learned from each country’s experience would inform the contents of the guide for developing a DRF. Additionally, the case studies examine the planning processes and not the implementation details of recovery experiences. As such, they do not seek to offer a comprehensive account of the post-disaster recovery program, but instead provide details and insight into the decision-making processes for reconstruction policies and programs.
This case study is unique as it documents ongoing recovery since the occurrence of Typhoon Yolanda, roughly ten months ago. The findings and conclusions should be considered as emerging and evolving as recovery continues to take place in the Philippines.
1. Introduction
1. The Philippines is one of the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of natural disasters. Located within the Pacific Ring of Fire, it is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. An average of 20 tropical storms or typhoons impact the country each year. Since 2008, typhoons reaching the Philippines have become stronger and more devastating. Two of the most recent ones, Yolanda (Haiyan) and Pablo (Bopha), were considered category 5 storms with winds exceeding 251 km/h, which, according to the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale, are the most powerful.
2. On November 8, 2013, Super Typhoon Haiyan caused unprecedented damage to nine regions, including 591 municipalities and 56 cities spread across 44 provinces.The sheer strength of the typhoon destroyed 550,928 houses and partially damaged another 589,404.About 16 million persons were affected, many of whom lost their sources of livelihood, while approximately 4.4 million were displaced.There were 6,268 reported casualties, 80% of whom were from Eastern Visayas, the second poorest region in the country. 678 On top of the human toll, damage to infrastructure reached USD 218.18M, with losses totalling USD 59.09M.Initial estimates by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) placed the total damages at around USD 12.9B. 10 Table 1 provides a brief profile the impact of typhoon Yolanda.