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After Typhoon Haiyan (local name: Yolanda) devastated central Philippines on November 8, 2013, CRS helped families and communities recover through emergency relief, WASH, transitional shelter, livelihood programs and other interventions. These images are from October 2014, 11 months after the storm.
With funding from Caritas Austria and Austrian Development Cooperation, and implementation by Catholic Relief Services, families in and around Palo received either direct build homes or funding in stages to construct their own homes that incorporate “build back better” techniques.
Pictured: Ester Badrina, 38, and her husband received staggered cash grants to construct their home and had frequent visits from CRS engineers to ensure they used proper building techniques for future disaster resilience. Ester supplements the income her husband makes from construction and fishing with her “sari sari” store, a shop run out of a home that sells small goods to people in the neighborhood. Here, she restocks her store after a trip to the main market in Palo city.
Photo by Jennifer Hardy/Catholic Relief Services
A bowl of money sits near fish for sale at Rowel Tablatin’s family fish stall in Tacloban, Philippines, early on the morning of Tuesday, May 20, 2014.
Tablatin, 26, is a fish vendor in Barangay 61, a neighborhood in Tacloban, Philippines, hard hit by Typhoon Haiyan on November 8, 2013. His coastal home was demolished by the typhoon, and now he and his wife, Robyann Parcon, 26, and his twin daughters Lhoren and Lilian, 4, live in his in-laws’ house, which is further inland. They plan to permanently relocate to the neighborhood.
Immediately after the typhoon, Tablatin participated in Catholic Relief Service’s cash-for-work clean up of debris and mud in his neighborhood. CRS paid him 260 pesos per day for a total of 30 days of work.
Tablatin is back to running his fish business. He wakes up at 2:30 a.m. every day to buy fish from fishermen and then bring them to his family’s market stall in Barangay 61 by 4 a.m.
“I would like to send my children to a good school and to have my own house for my family,” he said. “I want to ensure that the future of my daughters is successful. I don’t want them to feel hardship.”
Photo by Laura Elizabeth Pohl for Catholic Relief Services
Manila, October 13, 2020 — The U.S. government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has provided an additional Php73 million ($1.5 million) in food assistance to support displaced families in Lanao del Sur province. This brings the total U.S. commitment to humanitarian and recovery work in and around Marawi to more than Php3.1 billion ($65.1 million).
With this funding, USAID is providing food aid to more than 8,000 highly vulnerable persons to help meet their essential nutritional needs. Families will receive electronic cash transfers that enable them to purchase food in local markets. This assistance has been complemented by a messaging campaign promoting safe hygiene practices to equip communities with the knowledge and skills they need to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has stripped many households of vital sources of income and made those displaced by conflict especially vulnerable,” U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires John Law said. “As friends, partners, and allies, the United States continues to support the people of Marawi to overcome this health crisis and continue on their path to long-term recovery.”
This new food aid builds upon ongoing USAID assistance that supports 3,700 displaced families and improves nutrition for 5,000 children and 6,000 pregnant women and lactating mothers.
The assistance also complements USAID’s work with Lanao communities under its Marawi Response Project (MRP). As of July 2020, MRP has provided micro-grants to more than 1,000 displaced entrepreneurs, as well as communities, to revive their economic livelihoods and create jobs. MRP social cohesion micro-grants, which include small-scale infrastructure support, have benefited more than 14,000 displaced persons and host families. To address COVID-19, MRP is providing training, protective gear, and disinfectants to more than 3,300 public health workers. Also, USAID-supported handwashing, sanitation, and information support has reached almost 185,000 citizens in Lanao.
About USAID
The U.S. Agency for International Development administers U.S. foreign assistance programs, providing economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 80 countries worldwide.
Emergency Assistance
U.S. Citizens with Emergencies in the Philippines
Please call: (+63) 2 5301-2000
Outside of Office Hours, contact: (+63) 2 5301-2000
