Browsing by Author "Valo, Tuuli Pauliina"

This research investigates the post-disaster recovery following typhoon Haiyan that hit the Philippines November 2013. The empirical study was conducted one year after by interviewing crisis-affected people. The first objective of this study is to evaluate the success of post-disaster early recovery from a social perspective focusing on three sectors: livelihoods and income restoration, adequate housing and disaster preparedness. The second objective aims at investigating the disaster resilience of the affected communities and individuals. The factors contributing to disaster resilience are partly deriving from humanitarian aid programs and partly from communities' own systems. In order to build the capacity of atrisk communities to cope with the disasters, the importance of implementing disaster resilience in humanitarian aid has been recognized among researchers. On a broader scale this topic is connected to the role of humanitarian aid in post-disaster recovery. Humanitarian aid is traditionally perceived as a short-term help whereas development aid aims at longer term changes, for instance impacting structural issues in societies. However during the last years the role of the humanitarian aid has been recognized as an initiator for longer term development. Discussion around the different goals of humanitarian and development aid acts as an important part of theoretical framework. Referring to this theoretical discussion this study aims at finding out if any steps have been taken towards longer term goals and bridging relief to development in post-disaster recovery. The evaluation of early recovery is based on different policy papers such as guidelines, plans and standards that provide a frame to analyze the recovery critically. The assessment of early recovery and examination of disaster resilience is conducted through a qualitative case study of three typhoon-affected communities in the province of Samar in Eastern Visayas. Primary data was collected on a field trip in OctNov 2014 in barangays Salvacion, Sawa and Ferreras. Qualitative data collection methods were employed in order to understand the social realities of people's daily lives. The key data collecting method in this study was individual semi-structured interview with crisis-affected people, in addition to which group discussions and key informant interviews were employed to support and challenge the data acquired from individual interviews. Both the policy papers and the data collected from the field were analysed using discourse analysis which emphasizes critical thinking towards the social dynamics and the role of power in each text. The study findings show that a year after the disaster people's major problems were drastically dropped income levels, inadequate housing and inability to restore livelihoods. Emergency phase had been successful however the critical shift from short-term aid to long-term development framework had not yet been purely successful. Nevertheless some important steps had been taken. Humanitarian assistance was not only distributing goods but it included housing programs, emergency employment and livelihood support. Communities' own resilience systems in terms of social capital played an important role in disaster recovery.