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The Homeless And Needy Disaster Survivors (HANDS) Rehab Initiative

The Institute for Local Innovation and Approach in Development Inc. (ILIAD) is launching an initiative to help in the socio-economic recovery and rebuilding of communities devastated by Supertyphoon Yolanda. This is named Aksyon Bulig sa Operasyon Tindog Kabisayaan (ABOT Ka). It covers places in Leyte and Eastern Samar that were worst hit by the calamity.

ABOT Ka engages in the mobilization of support by agencies, organizations, groups and individuals participating or wanting to participate in rehab aid effort for the Yolanda affected areas. Support is directed at particular villages or households with which cooperation has already been initiated or of which critical needs have been identified and assessed.

The initiative specifically will help folks in the category of Homeless and Needy Disaster Survivors (HANDS).  It is intended not only to provide such assistance as food relief and core building materials, but to catalyze and enable efforts by the suffering victims themselves to pick up from the loss, damage and disruption of livelihoods brought about by Yolanda.

Assistance consists of three major actions, namely:

One,  Fast Assessment and Statistics Tracking for Rehab Aid Coverage (FASTRAC). This is the rapid gathering of data and appraisal, quick construction of target beneficiary database, their summary in report or newsfeed format, and their speedy communication to prospective benefactors and the public at large to seek immediate support or guide assistance. Through FASTRAC, ABOT Ka serves as spotter on ground zero to point aid to the proper target. It also serves to constantly monitor situation and bring to the attention of concerned agencies breaking issues and problems.

Two, Immediate Shelter and Livelihood Assistance (ISLA). This is the delivery of solicited financial and other forms of assistance to match the building of starting shelters by identified beneficiary HANDS. The effort at basic shelter provision is designed to generate, alongside, livelihoods for workforces in the community as well as women.

Three, Community Level Action Support Partnership (CLASP). This is the engagement of cooperation with local government units at the barangay level, or civic organizations at the grassroots, in participatory planning and joint implementation of courses of action to spur off rehabilitation through an integrated socio-economic development approach. CLASP aims to bring to the table new physical framework designs in pursuit of a development that is environmentally safe, ecologically sound, and disaster resilient, besides being socially just, economically feasible and holistically human uplifting.

For the above thrusts, ILIAD is seeking assistance from various sectors and sources. It may be directly implemented by the donors themselves, with ILIAD facilitating cooperation with target beneficiary households/communities. Or it may be executed with the collaboration of ILIAD, which will provide the network of volunteers on the ground for liaison and organizing tasks, and staff for technical support. In a detailed proposal for this purpose, ILIAD will delineate the optimal strategy, and concrete methods and processes wherein the aid will be most effectively delivered, and will generate desired results towards the recovery and rebuilding of communities.

ABOT Ka initially is covering the following areas:

1)      Barangays Ormocay, Camanse and Wilson in the coastal town of Mayorga

2)      The agricultural town of Burauen, Leyte (specific localities still in the process of selection)

3)      Barangays Hinulogan, Maliwaliw, Calipayan, Rizal, San Benito and Caluctogan in the interior agricultural town of Dagami

4)      Barangays San Miguel, Magay and Sta. Cruz in the heavily devastated coastal town of Tanauan

5)      Town of Hernani along  the Pacific Coast in Eastern Samar (specific localities still in the process of selection)

6)      Town of Giporlos along the Pacific Coast in Eastern Samar (specific localities still in the process of selection)

Preliminary reports by ILIAD volunteers on ground zero count the dwellings flattened or totally damaged by the supertyphoon at 50 to 80 percent of households in the said areas. The food situation is critical, for if relief is cut at this stage, hunger will break out. Livelihoods and productive activity are generally at a standstill. And local folks besides being traumatized by the catastrophe on November 8, undergo a stressful day-to-day existence accompanied by confusion, fear and anxiety over an uncertain future.

Shelter for the homeless is either in tents or hastily propped makeshift structures of salvaged lumber and doled-out canvass or tarp. Under these the folks suffer extremes of cold during nights and days of intermittent rain, and heat beating on the canopies during sunny weather. Heavy downpours send them into panic as waters begin to rise rapidly on rivers and come close to their fragile dwellings.

Meanwhile, 80 to 90 percent of the pre-Yolanda business has been ravaged and not yet come back.
Agriculture with the massive damage wrought to the coconut industry is on the verge of stagnation, and may not rise back to where it was before, in the next seven years. Social disintegration and economic collapse are likely to combine in a second generation tragedy after the Nov. 8 disaster.

The Institute for Local Innovation and Approach in Development views with deep concern the intense hardships and dangers that the Yolanda survivors continue to go through. All these urge everyone, the government, civil society, the business sector, and other aid donors to act now and very quickly. The dire situation does not afford losing a day. The rehab must start rolling in no time at all.

For our suffering brothers and sisters, and for the country which needs Eastern Visayas to rise and fulfil its economic and social role in our overall development, Help Us Give Support!

please visit: www.philiad.com.ph
email: iliadphil@yahoo.com or clasp@philiad.com.ph