Yolanda and the Filipino Resiliency

SEDPI Program Officer, Angelo Naidas, conducts focus group discussion with victims of Typhoon Yolanda

By: Emilenn Sacdalan-Pateño

The Philippines is known as one of the most hazard-prone countries in the world. In a 2008 World Bank study, the country was identified as a natural disaster hot-spot with approximately 50.3% of its total area and 81% of its population vulnerable to natural disasters. The United Nations University Institute of Environment and Human Security’s (UNU- EHS) 2012 World Risk Report, the Philippines is the third most disaster risk country worldwide.^[1]

In a country that experiences a lot of natural disasters, it is a wonder how its people would cope in order to survive. These are what the Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc. (SEDPI) found out during the conduct of two (2) separate researches among Yolanda survivors in Eastern and Western Visayas. These researches were done respectively with Cordaid and People in Need (PIN).

According to the researches, the most effective coping mechanism of the poor in times of disaster are the following: (a) looking for other sources of income; (b) donations or relief operations; and (c) accessing loans. These coping mechanisms are cited to be effective since these allow the family of the respondents to get by with daily needs, and are also readily available.

However, it is interesting to note that although not mentioned widespread, a significant number of the respondents revealed that their top priority in terms of coping mechanism is prayer. They also deemed this as highly effective. One respondent from Eastern Samar said, “Hindi ko nga po alam kung paano pa kami nakakaraos sa araw-araw. Ipinapasa-Diyos na lang namin.” (“I do not know how we survive day-by-day. We just leave it up to the Lord.”) This only shows how culture has influenced the coping mechanisms of the Filipinos.

Another coping mechanism inherent to Filipinos is that of getting assistance from village members through damayan (compassion) and bayanihan (cooperation). Some experts might call it social capital. But for the respondents, immediate help would only come from those around them. There were stories of Yolanda survivors in Iloilo pooling whatever food they have so that they could share them among neighbors.

With all the calamities that the Philippines experiences, its people have found indigenous ways of coping to these disasters. But even the poor know that they would be able to better cope with these disasters if there is an enabling environment for them to be more economically resilient and be better equipped to manage disasters. The two projects of SEDPI, with Cordaid and People in Need (PIN) respectively, are trying to accomplish these. Cordaid is a Dutch International NGO and PIN is a Czech International NGO.

Currently, SEDPI won the bid for the project with PIN to be able to allow the Yolanda survivors in Eastern Samar to have access to suitable financial products and services and enhance financial literacy. Aside from access to financial services, market linkage is also an important aspect that is looked into by the project as this would provide an enabling environment for the communities to be more economically resilient. These factors would enable the Yolanda survivors to build their resiliency, both on the individual and collective levels.

[1] “Natural Disasters at a Glance,” Senate Economic Planning Office, April 2013