Typhoon Haiyan disaster response: how the relief effort worked | Mark Tran | Global development | The GuardianTyphoon Haiyan disaster response: how the relief effort worked | Mark Tran | Global development | The Guardian










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Humanitarian response


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Typhoon Haiyan disaster response: how the relief effort worked









An emergency worker on how a combination of crises planning and government co-operation bolstered humanitarian efforts














Typhoon Haiyan disaster response: police officers in Talcoban secure a lorryload of relief goods. Photograph: Dennis M Sabangan/EPA Dennis M. Sabangan/EPA






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Mark Tran






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Friday 7 February 2014 07.41 EST







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When typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines in November, Brett Moore, World Vision's shelter adviser, bought three Toyotas, 500 litres of water, dry rations, petrol and mosquito nets, and boarded the night ferry from Cebu to Tacloban, the city worst-hit by the storm.

"We spent seven hours, squashed with 500 people. It was 40C and no one slept," he says. "We arrived in Ormoc with the sun peeping up and thousands of people trying to board the ferry. We drove for three and a half hours through debris and trees and set up camp at a training college that was destroyed and filthy."

Moore, an Australian, is a designated first-responder to disasters and at the sharp end of the UN's cluster system. Clusters are groups of UN and non-UN humanitarian organisations that specialise in emergency reponse in areas such as water and sanitation, health, shelter, logistics, food security and agriculture. The cluster approach was applied for the first time after the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan.

Ocha, the UN office for the co-ordination of humanitarian affairs led by Lady Amos, plays a leading role in disaster response. As its name implies, its job is to co-ordinate clusters once they are activated, a decision made in conjunction with the country in need.

In the case of Haiyan, the international humanitarian system and the Philippine government had been warned about the impending storm, but few had anticipated its ferocity – 195mph winds and a storm surge that swept eight ships ashore.

Each cluster has a designated lead agency: the World Health Organisation leads the health cluster; the World Food Programme heads logistics and food security; the UN Development Programme directs on early recovery and livelihoods.

Some of the first emergency teams to arrive in Tacloban were communications experts, so that information could be transmitted on what was needed and where. As Moore explains, the various clusters operate on a basis of who, what and where, to avoid duplication.

Moore works in the shelter cluster led by the UN refugee agency, the International Federation of the Red Cross, and Red Crescent Societies. In the Philippines, Save the Children and Medair were also part of this cluster; there has to be co-ordination within each cluster. "One group might say we've got 10,000 tarps [tarpaulin], another will say we've got tents, another we've got water purifiers. We have to work out each other's capacity," he explains.

It helps that people in any particular cluster know one another. The shelter cluster holds two meetings a year, one face-to-face and one online, and a subgroup meets every two months to prepare for a crisis such as Haiyan.

There also has to be co-ordination between the different clusters, and it is up to Ocha's representative to make sure no one trips over anyone else's toes. Eleven clusters are operating in the Philippines and the task of co-ordinating them fell to Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, who is credited with having done a good job.

Another factor that has contributed to a relatively effective operation, say aid workers, has been the close co-operation between civilians and the military. Relief officials have spoken highly of the contribution of the US, UK and Australian armed forces, which have the big cargo aircraft to bring in heavy equipment. "The British armed forces through DfID [Britain's department for international development] brought in a lot of tarpaulins, water purification and vehicles very quickly," Moore says.

Each cluster works with its particular line ministry, so the shelter cluster operates with the affected country's department of public works and highways. UN officials and relief workers have been struck by the competence of Philippine government officials and it is ultimately the government that tells donors what it wants and where they should concentrate efforts. It helps that the government has a good organisational network through to village level.

UN officials say they have not seen such a level of government competence in any other emergency. "These guys have been amazing, they've been leading the response," one senior official says.

The main problem has been the friction between the central government and the authorities in Tacloban, stemming from the fact that president Benigno Aquino and Alfred Romualdez belong to the country's most powerful rival political families. Aquino's father had been assassinated under the Marcos dictatorship; Romualdez's aunt, Imelda Romualdez Marcos, was married to Ferdinand Marcos.

"The political situation has influenced the entire response," a UN official says. Many people in Tacloban are bitter that the government did not send police or troops to keep order for a week, creating the conditions for desperate people to loot shops for supplies.

Given the potential for abuse, Ocha is funding Radio Abante. Well-known local journalists cover the humanitarian response by inviting people to send in text messages on a particular subject. This week, one of the questions addressed who was eligible to receive aid.

Some complained that the decision was based on outdated census information. The communication with communities initiative seeks to ensure that the people affected by the typhoon are being listened to by the UN aid agencies. For now, most listeners are deeply grateful to people like Moore who rushed in to help.



Topics



Humanitarian response




Typhoon Haiyan




Natural disasters and extreme weather




Philippines




Asia Pacific








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