Situation in Tacloban improved tremendously, says UN-OCHA

Almost one month since super typhoon “Yolanda” (Haiyan) battered Visayas, the situation of the people in this community has improved tremendously, according to an official from the United Nations Office of the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA).

Jesper Lund, head of UN-OCHA’s units in Leyte and Samar, said the healthcare system in the area is fully functional and people are now getting access to safe drinking water, while food distribution to the families who need it continues.

“From the devastation you saw on the first phase where injured people were looking for places to go and get treatment, but they couldn’t go around because the roads were full of debris and people were gathered in community centers, now, vast majority of people have returned to houses—of what is left of their houses and they have started rebuilding,” Lund described in an interview.

Lund, however, acknowledged that a lot of work still has to be done, given the scale of the devastation caused by Yolanda, especially in terms of infrastructure, livelihood, and decent shelter for people who are still reeling from the effects of the calamity.

“The challenge is, of course, to continue the improvements with the same speed because people have expectations. They want jobs. They want what we call livelihood. They want to be able to go back and work in their farms, go back to work in their schools…and there we need to continue that support to bring them that livelihood back,” Lund said.

The support that the government is providing to the victims must not stop, so the gaps in areas where people don’t get access to donations and other forms of assistance will be minimized, if not, totally addressed, he added.

“I think the most important areas now are shelter so people get roofs over their heads in the rainy season, livelihood. Leyte is an agricultural land so we need to get the seeds distributed (for the farmers),” Lund mentioned.

“We need to have the rubble removed so we can start reconstruction, rehabilitation in the city, because if you don’t get some basic installation like the slaughter house, the market, and some banks in operation in Tacloban, we would not get this livelihood and this opportunity for the people, and then we would not have this continuous development that we’re looking for,” he said.

Clearing operations continue in the Tacloban airport, on the road, all the way to the Leyte Sports Academy that serves as the command post and media center for various organizations that are still gathering to coordinate and monitor the ongoing relief and rehabilitation efforts in aid of the typhoon victims.

The bayanihan spirit of the Filipinos also is still very much alive as people can be seen across the streets helping some authorities clear up the rubble even while under the heat of the sun. By and large, the residents of Tacloban are working hard to bring their lives back to normal.