Philippines still rebuilding six months after typhoon’s visit

IRIN: More than six months after Typhoon Haiyan devastated large parts of the central Philippines, progress is being made in rebuilding livelihoods. However, huge challenges remain in making them sustainable.

“What we need now is to intensify emergency employment efforts on the ground and transition into sustainable livelihood programmes,” Ruth Honculada-Georget, early recovery and livelihood co-coordinator for the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Manila, told IRIN, describing their work ahead as “enormous”.

According to a May report by the Geneva-based Internal Displacement and Monitoring Centre, progress on sustainable solutions for survivors remains key to the recovery and resilience of those affected by the Category 5 storm which slammed into the region on 8 November 2013 displacing more than 4 million people and leaving over 6,000 dead.

Of the 14 million affected, 5.9 million workers lost their sources of income and livelihoods, of which 60 percent were men and 40 percent were women, the Early Recovery and Livelihoods Cluster (ER&L – made up of more than 50 international and local NGOs and co-led by the government, ILO, and the UN Development Programme) reported on 14 May.

More than 2.6 million of those affected were already living below the poverty line or were in vulnerable forms of employment before the typhoon, including the agriculture, fishing and forestry sectors, or a combination of all three.

Wind and powerful storm surges destroyed or damaged key assets and disrupted livelihood activities resulting in income losses of up to 70 percent across the region, the Multi-Cluster/ Sector Rapid Assessment (MIRA II), a cooperative effort involving more than 40 agencies working in the nine affected regions, revealed....

Post-Haiyan devastation in Tacloban, Philippines, shot by DFID - UK Department for International Development, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons 2.0 license