RAPID Needs Assessment: Eastern Samar Province, Eastern Visayas (Region VIII)

1. General information:

Name and the nature of the disaster Typhoon Haiyan (“Yolanda”)

Date/s on which the rapid needs assessment November 13-15, 2013
was done.
Date on which the rapid needs assessment November 14-15, 2013
report is being written.
Full name, job title, e-mail and phone Frank Manfredi, USNO DRM, +63-9087003286.
number of the team leader/ person writing the Integrating materials from Hilda Winartasaputra
(WASH) and Janis Risdell (CPiE)
report.
2. Situation Overview

2.1 Nature of the Emergency:

Typhoon Haiyan (known as “Yolanda” in the Philippines), perhaps the most powerful storm on
record, passed through the Philippines between November 6-8, 2013, making landfall near
Guiuan, Eastern Samar on Nov. By the time it left the Philippines Area of Responsibility, over 9
million people (in over 1.96 HHs) had been affected. Of this number, over 1.48 million were
displaced.1 The numbers of those killed or injured by Haiyan and its effects are still being
compiled but current National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council figures have
topped 3,600 killed, with the count continuing. The United Nations Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA), citing other Government of the Philippines and local
government unit figures lists over 11.8 million people affected, including 921,800 displaced, as
well as 4,460 killed.2 The NDRRMC reports 253,049 houses damaged or destroyed (136,247
totally damaged; 117,802 partially damaged).3

2.2 Geographical Extent of Haiyan’s Impact:

Haiyan affected areas within nine regions of the Philippines, with the Eastern Visayas (Region
VIII) experiencing some of the heaviest damages and losses. Within this region, the Provinces of
Eastern Samar and Leyte suffered major damage.

2.3 Haiyan’s Impact on Eastern Samar:

NDRRMC estimates a total of 428,877 people (in 91,252 households) impacted throughout
Eastern Samar Province, including 12,815 currently sheltering in government Evacuation Centers
(ECs). Figures for affected population of each Eastern Samar municipality are listed in the table
below:

Barangay/City Population Affected

Population

Arteche 15,164
Balangiga 12,756
Balangkayan 9,046
1
National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), Sitrep No. 20 Effects of Typhoon “Yolanda”
(Haiyan), 15 November 2013, 6:00am.
2
UN OCHA “Philippines: Typhoon Haiyan Situation Report No. 8 (as of 14 November 2013)”, citing DSWD, NDRRMC, and
Regional Task Force figures for those affected, displaced, and killed, respectively.
3
NDRRMC, Sitrep No. 20 Effects of Yolanda.

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 Borongan City 64,457
Can-Avid 19,785
Dolores 37,912
General 12,214
MacArthur
Giporlos 12,040
Guiuan 47,037
Hernani 8,070
Jipapad 7,397
Lawaan 11,612
Llorente 19,101
Maslog 4,781
Maydolong 13,614
Mercedes 5,369
Oras 34,760
Quinapondan 13,841
Salcedo 19,970
San Julian 13,748
San Policarpo 13,836
Sulat 15,184
Taft 17,183
Total 428,877

Map of Eastern Samar

3. Needs

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3.1 Specific Needs of Children:
Children face needs across sectors as Haiyan disrupted or destroyed most basic services and
protections, increasing physical, emotional, and development dangers facing children and youth.

WASH:
 Safe drinking water (GoP min standard: 50 l/person/day) due to disruption of water
services, damage to water sources.
 Toilet/Latrine Facilities: A minimum of 1 for 100 people moving toward 1:20 (siting,
privacy, and lighting issues must also be considered to address protection concerns and
dignity of women, adolescent girls, and children);
 Hygiene interventions: Given disruptions to water services and supplies, as well as
significant displacement and associated crowded conditions, hygiene needs among
children and families must be met.

Child Protection in Emergencies:

 Psychosocial Support: Children and caregivers, facing very high levels of stress and
emotional distress, need PSS activities.
 Family Reunification/Tracing: Children have been reported separated from caregivers,
by death, injury, evacuation or migration, increasing their vulnerability to violence,
exploitation, abuse, and neglect. These conditions also exacerbate concerns of increases
in trafficking of children and youth.4
 Child Friendly Spaces: The conditions noted above also necessitate child protection
programming including Child Friendly Spaces to mitigate on-going risks and provide
venues to begin addressing PSS needs among children (as well as venues for
complementary interventions, e.g., women’s Protection/GBV, health and nutrition for
pregnant and lactating women, etc.).
 Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Services: Women and girls face increased risk
of violence (including sexual violence), exploitation, and abuse. Conditions in
overcrowded evacuation centers can exacerbate these risks. GBV Prevention and
Services to Survivors are required.
 Community-based Child Protection Programs: Awareness-raising on Child Protection
issues, support to Barangay Child Protection Councils, and strengthening referral
mechanisms for Child Protection services.

Shelter:
 Emergency Shelter: Displaced children and household members require emergency
shelter interventions providing safe and dignified covered shelter. In the short-term, this
need must be met with Emergency Shelter Kits, through hosting arrangements, and later
transitional shelter options will also be key elements on the way to permanent shelter
solutions for children and families.

Education:
 Temporary Classrooms/Learning Spaces: With many schools damaged, destroyed, or
being used as evacuation centers, schooling has been disrupted across Eastern Samar,
leading to the need for temporary classrooms in many areas.
 Replacement of School Supplies: Damaged and missing learning materials and
classroom and school supplies will also need to be replaced.
 Rehabilitation/reconstruction of damaged or destroyed schools and facilities:

4
During the relatively smaller TS Washi (“Sendong”) emergency, trafficking – predominantly among adolescent girls aged
14-17 years – is estimated to have increased by 10% (OCHA and ECPAT information, cite needed).

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 Classrooms and other school facilities will need to be rehabilitated and, where destroyed,
rebuilt. School sanitation facilities will also need to be rehabbed or rebuilt. This latter
point will be important to ensuring that adolescent girls are able to return to school.

Food Security:
Haiyan led to significant food shortages in the heavily affected areas of Eastern Samar, as well as
Western Samar and many areas of Leyte.5 Major food distributions are on-going and planned for
the coming weeks. Food security interventions need to focus on vulnerable groups including
children, pregnant and lactating women, and the elderly.

3.2 Effect on Livelihoods:

As in other affected areas, communities in Eastern Samar face disruption or loss of livelihoods
due to Haiyan. Losses have followed damage or destruction of agricultural lands, physical
infrastructure, and productive assets.

3.3 Effects on Basic Services:

Basic services have been disrupted in many areas of Eastern Samar. Health facilities, transport
systems, and municipal services – including water and sanitation systems – have been damaged or
rendered non-functional by the storm and its effects. Significantly, food supplies have also been
disrupted in some areas.

3.4 Effects on Information Systems:

Phone and mobile communications were severely disrupted, with mobile communications slowly
being restored in affected areas on Eastern Samar.

4. Coverage and Gaps analysis

4.1 Coverage by Humanitarian Assistance:

Logistical difficulties have hampered early efforts at reaching populations, particularly those in
more remote locations. Currently, gaps exist in most areas for humanitarian response.
However, with international efforts ramping up and logistical hubs being established, coverage
will increase in the coming days and weeks.

4.2 To what extent are the needs of affected populations addressed?

With humanitarian assistance efforts just starting to come on-line and the previously-mentioned
logistical difficulties have slowed the response start-up. In some cases, areas which have
garnered significant press coverage are receiving a disproportionate focus of attention. In order to
avoid duplication or gaps in coverage careful coordination through relevant sector clusters will be
extremely important.

4.3 What are the specific needs and gaps related to children?
Child Protection issues remain to be addressed in a systematic and coordinated fashion.
Disruption of schooling is another important challenge for affected children (particularly due to
the “normalizing” effect that schooling brings to young lives). Finally, Food Security and longer-
term Nutrition concerns may lead to developmental delays among impacted children, if not
addressed.

5
UN OCHA, Philippines Typhoon Haiyan Situation Report No. 11 (as of 17 November 2013).

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 5. Risks
5.1 Risks to which the Population Is exposed include significant public health risks from the
combination of lack of adequate shelter, lack of clean water, crowded conditions for displaced
persons. These same conditions might exacerbate the risks children (notably adolescent girls) and
women face from violence, abuse, exploitation, and neglect.

Basic needs must be met in the short-term, including the needs for adequate covered shelter,
Food Assistance, and public health interventions focused on supporting the existing public
health system to cover health care needs. CPiE and GBV prevention and assistance programs
must be integrated into response programs. Gender programming focused on engaging girls and
young women in response efforts will be critical to mitigating the disproportionate risks that girls
face in the wake of emergencies.

6. Projected Trend
6.1 Forecast:
Despite current access issues and logistical challenges which have slowed the initial
response, these challenges will be reduced as more aid comes on line and donors and the
GoP ramp-up their response efforts. At the same time, the sheer scale and destructiveness
of Haiyan suggests that the immediate response and early recovery phases will be
followed by years of reconstruction. Donors and implementing organizations must be
prepared from the start to lobby governments, IOs, and international financial institutions
to ensure that attention does not drift once the immediate humanitarian crisis has eased.

7. Response Capacity of national and local authorities and civil society actors

Response capacities of local (sub-national) government actors have seemed to be

overwhelmed by the sheers magnitude of the emergency. In some municipalities, local
governments have effectively ceased to function, in the worst cases abandoning their
responsibilities. While national level actors, prominently the NDRRMC and DSWD,
have performed somewhat better, they have been beset by the same delays and logistical
difficulties that INGOs and private groups have experienced.

Initial “pre-emptive” evacuations in cities and larger towns may have resulted in a
somewhat lower toll of deaths and injuries than would have otherwise been the case.
However, with national and local government providers struggling to reach survivors and
re-establish basic services, critical support will be needed from private sector actors and
the international community.

8. International response capacity within the country

Who Where Types of interventions

Various Eastern Visayas Food, Water, Shelter, others

Bilateral/Militaries
CRS Shelter, NFIs, WASH
WFP Food Assistance
UNICEF
IOM Eastern Samar WASH, Nutrition
World Vision Eastern Samar

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 9. Humanitarian Access
9.1 What are the logistic considerations and options for organising a response?
9.2 What are the security considerations for organising a response?
9.3 Are civil-military relations a feature of the context? If so where and what types of
interventions?

10. Humanitarian Country Team’s strategic Priorities

10.1 Sectors identified for intervention

Within Eastern Samar, Plan has selected the following sectors for emergency phase interventions:

 Emergency Shelter
 Food Assistance (short-term, family rations)
 WASH (including point of use water treatment)
 Key NFIs
 Child Protection
 Education

Plan’s initial Eastern Samar target areas are listed below:

Affected Target
# of 2010 HH Affected HH Target HH
Municipality Population Population Population
villages (5/HH) (70%) (25%)
(70%) (25%)

Eastern Samar
BALANGIGA 13 2,551 12,756 1,786 8,929 638 3,189
GENERAL
MACARTHUR 30 2,443 12,214 1,710 8,550 611 3,054
GIPORLOS 18 2,408 12,040 1,686 8,428 602 3,010
GUIUAN 60 9,407 47,037 6,585 32,926 2,352 11,759
HERNANI 13 1,614 8,070 1,130 5,649 404 2,018
LAWAAN 16 2,322 11,612 1,625 8,128 581 2,903
MERCEDES 16 1,074 5,369 752 3,758 268 1,342
QUINAPONDAN 25 2,768 13,841 1,938 9,689 692 3,460
SALCEDO 41 3,994 19,970 2,796 13,979 999 4,993

TOTAL 232 28,581 142,909 20,007 100,036 7,145 35,727

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 11. Analysis and recommendation on what needs and gaps Plan should respond to.

Given its significant programming presence throughout the Visayas, including Eastern Samar,
Plan should be prepared to contribute to the initial emergency response phase to meet needs and
limit or reduce suffering among residents:

 Emergency Shelter
 Food Security
 WASH
 Key NFIs
 Temporary classrooms/school spaces
 CFS

These should be complemented by programs around areas key to Plan:

 CCDRR
 Education (including rehabilitation of school facilities)

Finally, given its long-term commitment to the development of communities in the Eastern
Visayas, Plan may expect to remain after many other organizations have departed the scene. This
suggests that Plan, more than most, will have a role to play in the longer-term rehabilitation and
reconstruction of the area.
List specific unmet needs.

Some of the cross cutting issues need to be listed in all places where it is applicable (e.g. psychosocial care
and support needs to figure under health, education, child protection and other interventions).

Needs Place

Family/ sanitary kits and 
other immediate needs 


Education 




Child protection




Water and Sanitation



Public Health 


Food Assistance and 
Nutrition 
(specify food distribution, 
cash programming, 
livelihood)


Other 
(such as temporary/ \

permanent shelter ) 

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 Note: Please remove this table if you are sending your report to anyone outside Plan.

List your current capacity needs to respond to this emergency. Which all specialists do you need from the emergency roster (e.g.
Emergency Response Manager)? List of all roles available on the emergency roster is on the Virtual Operations Room
https://communities.planapps.org/eo/TEAM004/Documents/Emergency%20Roster-%20List%20f%20roles-
6%20June%202012.docx

u/31/ July/2012