 |
|
An ECHO humanitarian team arrives
in Ormoc city to survey the
damage and conduct an assessment
of super typhoon Haiyan survivors
|
Ten
days after thousands of Filipinos suffered the wrath of Super Typhoon Haiyan,
the Philippine government is now mulling the idea of relocating typhoon victims
to safer ground to mitigate the effects of future natural calamities.
“Right
now, we’re thinking of resettlement for the people especially in Tacloban. On
the part of the government, we will look for relocation sites to mitigate
effects if ever they happen in the future,” National Disaster Risk Reduction
and Management Council spokesperson Reynaldo Balido told Devex. “We’re looking
at relocation as one of the options.”
Following
the scores of deaths and billions lost in damaged properties due to the heavy
rains, strong winds and a furious storm surge that engulfed the majority of Leyte’s
coastal and inland municipalities, authorities are now trying to clear the area
for assessment, offering people free plane and ship rides to Manila, Cebu and
other cities.
This
initiative, however, poses a serious dilemma — further migration can intensify
the incidence of poverty in urban centers.
Around
3,000 typhoon victims have been flown to the capital’s main military air base
since last week. Although this effort was aimed at providing “temporary
refuge,” there is no assurance the refugees will ever want to return home,
posing sustainability issues, according to Gawad Kalinga, a well-known local
NGO specializing in housing and resettlement for the poor.
“We
are hoping that they will eventually go back [to Leyte], but of course we don’t
have certainty there,” said Gawad Kalinga partnerships head Tito Cajulis. “The
case here is that, even for those who migrated to the city even before the
typhoon hit, they were finding a hard time making a living in the city. They
are now living in slum areas so it’s a huge risk.”
Over
50,000 families are currently displaced in the province of Cebu alone,
according to data from NDRRMC, and many more are unaccounted for. Assessments
are ongoing and not expected to finish anytime soon, with far-flung areas still
inaccessible due to damage in infrastructure and communication lines.
Long-term
plans
In
the next few days, the disaster response will go from basic needs to long-term
goals like providing sustainable housing and livelihood.
Moving
people from one place to another does not seem like a long-term solution, but
relocating them with finality to a climate-resilient place where they can find
work is, said Climate Change Commission Secretary Lucille Sering.
“We
can’t do band-aid solutions anymore. [We have to] identify areas [in Leyte]
that are considered risky and figure out if they are still fit for
development,” explained Sering. “We know people will find it hard to leave
their properties despite what happened in Haiyan. But we also have to give them
alternatives like giving them a new community altogether and start from there.”
The
idea is that the victims will be flown in Manila, Cebu and other safe areas for
“temporary settlement” until things have stabilized in Leyte. During that time,
the government, along with other aid groups, will work on finding and building
climate-resilient areas and structures within Leyte, while avoiding
disaster-prone areas. Once these initiatives are in place, the victims will be
asked to come home.
“This
is to ensure that if we build, we’re going to rebuild sensibly. The solution is
temporary refuge and rehabilitation to get them out of harm’s way,” said
Cajulis, adding that once clearing operations are done, rehabilitation efforts
will slowly begin, starting with the repairs of remaining structures in the
hard-hit areas that are still fixable. That will start in about two weeks, with
relocation and reconstruction happening probably by early 2014.
The
relocation efforts will involve work particularly from the local governments to
settle land issues where these people will permanently settle in. The
structures should not only be climate-resilient, but economically viable and
with potential to provide employment, livelihood and development opportunities
to the people.
“The
most important thing is for peace and order to come back. Second is for the
economic support systems to be in place so if people are there, they have
livelihood or economic opportunities,” noted Cajulis. “They have to have the
feeling that they have something to go back to.”
No comments:
Post a Comment