News

Recovering from a traumatic event for some can mean finding a new appreciation of life – for others it is a slow process fraught with negativity. 'Having more close emotional ties is generally related to better mental health and personal wellbeing several years after a disaster. Involvement in local community groups and organisations is also associated with more positive outcomes,' says Associate Professor Gibbs, from the Centre of Health Equity, one of the chief investigators on the Beyond Bushfires project..,

Much—perhaps too much—has been made of Filipino resiliency. While government programs are important for redrawing the conditions under which they labor, their success hinge precisely on people’s ability to respond to and recuperate from their misfortune.

Caritas Palo Director Fr. Al Cris Badana emphasized the importance of the involvement of the communities in addressing climate change and disaster risks knowing the impact of super typhoon Yolanda that wrought havoc to the people in areas affected.

Homes were destroyed last month in bushfires near Lancefield, Victoria, lives have been lost as fires continue to sweep through southern Western Australia. Alongside the devastating loss of life and properties, many properties potentially in the path of bushfires are inadequately insured...

On November 8, 2013, Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded, disrupted the lives of nearly six million children and destroyed the homes of 1.4 million children and their families. Two years on, UNICEF continues to help children, families and communities rebuild their lives...

Leonor Briones, president of Social Watch Philippines, a public spending watchdog, said the slow release of the 167 billion pesos ($3.6 billion) earmarked by President Benigno Aquino had caused a lot of problems for local authorities. Delays in finding rehousing sites, slowness in the release of promised funds, and difficulty finding what the money has been spent on are among the problems, officials say...

When it comes to victim compensation, Feldman and Fish write, 'transnational regulatory regimes for compensating victims of natural disasters are largely non-existent.' Individuals are usually not compensated for personal injuries or property losses. Many private insurance policies exclude types of disaster risk, and many individual underestimate the risk of natural disasters and tend to underinsure....

Extreme loss and survivor guilt after the Typhoon Yolanda (also known as Typhoon Haiyan) disaster have led to depression in at least one in 10 people in Tacloban City, write Jed Alegado and Angeli Guadalupe in an opinion piece on IPS News. But two years after the disaster, some survivors remain unaware of available mental health services...

UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons urged the Philippines to speed up completion of housing for thousands made homeless by typhoon Haiyan nearly two years ago: "Many families remain housed in collective 'bunkhouses' that do not meet necessary minimum standards for the provision of basic needs and services." ...

Targets have been exceeded with 28 communities served, 660 houses built, 54 community improvements done, and over 4,500 households equipped with disaster risk reduction know-how. But the major takeaway from the project is the full demonstration of how recovery and building resilience thrive best as a shared endeavour—with the communities and families themselves driving the process...