Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines - Shelter and Assistance to Improve Livelihoods - ADRA 2014

February 2014 - On November 8 2013 Typhoon Haiyan (locally known as Yolanda) made landfall in the Philippines a densely populated country of 92 million people. The category five typhoon killed over 6 000 Filipinos caused 4 million people to be displaced from their homes and caused severe damage to infrastructure including homes roads schools and health centres. Although many people have already received life-saving humanitarian assistance significant humanitarian needs remain including early recovery activities that contribute to building communities that are more resilient. With DFATD’s support the Adventist Development and Relief Agency Canada (ADRA) is helping people affected by Typhoon Haiyan on Panay Island by providing shelter for 18 000 people and livelihoods assistance to help 9 000 people meet their basic needs. Project activities include: (1) providing 4 000 of the most vulnerable households with cash vouchers to help them rebuild or repair their shelters; (2) providing gender-sensitive technical assistance in shelter reconstruction; (3) providing shelter construction training to 300 able-bodied workers; (4) clearing and sorting debris for shelter reconstruction; (5) providing conditional cash vouchers to 500 fishermen; (6) repairing and building boats providing fishing accessories and reconstructing fish pens for 500 fishermen; and (7) providing non-cash farming inputs such as rice seeds and fertilizers to 500 vulnerable women.

The expected immediate outcomes for this project include: (1) increased access to shelter for typhoon-affected people; and (2) increased access to livelihoods to allow people to meet their basic needs. The expected intermediate outcome is reduced vulnerability of crisis-affected people especially women and children.