Typhoon Yolanda and post‐disaster resilience: Problems and challenges

Abstract

After Typhoon Yolanda devastated the Philippines, ‘resilient’ was a term frequently used by the media, survivors, government officials and various other stakeholders in the city of Tacloban to describe those affected by the disaster. The focus of this article is therefore on how this term was articulated and experienced during this period. The analysis covers how resilience was discursively deployed to describe the condition of residents who were, in fact, often suffering from a double process of dispossession: once by the typhoon and once more by government policy and the inequitable distribution of relief goods and services due to the inadequacies of the disaster response. Despite these inadequacies, Tacloban was presented as ‘an exemplary centre’ of the post‐Typhoon Yolanda relief effort. I argue that the overarching rhetoric and strategies of resilience became rituals aimed at normalising modes of profit‐seeking and recreating the unequal socio‐economic status quo. These rituals occurred at multiple levels; however, the fortunes of Tacloban were indelibly intertwined with the political credibility and status pride of the Marcos/Romualdez family. I argue that ‘resilience’ is a complex, overused, manipulated and contested term and that a more transparent understanding of resilience for disaster relief and rehabilitation is needed.

Can fishing communities escape marginalisation? Comparing overfishing, environmental pressures and adaptation in Thailand and the Philippines

“…Perhaps one of the reasons is that Rak Thai is supported by foreign donors. In Trang, but also areas like Barotac Viejo and Tanza, effective top‐down initiatives need to meet bottom‐up ideas and interests through a stronger focus on trust building activities, such as taking into account aspirations of the young generation, gender dynamics and disaster risk reduction without recreating socio‐spatial inequalities (Belton, 2012; Satumanatpan and Pollnac, 2017; Eadie, 2019; Kwok et al ., 2019).…”

Typhoon Haiyan survivors at the resettlement sites: Covid-19 pandemic realities and challenges

“…From 2014 onwards, survivors’ vulnerable conditions prevailed and revealed multiple dislocations and dysfunctions in these ‘territorialized’ relocation sites [ 52 ] and in the processes of resetting them. People living in the Pabahay sites reported new challenges, including its far distance from their sources of livelihoods [ 23 ]; people's lack of access to potable water [ 19 , 26 ], and reproductive health products and services [ 36 ]; the low quality and small sizes of the houses [ 19 ]; the excessive delay in the construction of critical infrastructures, such as school buildings [ 6 ]; and the poor communication and lack of transparency in resettlement processes [ 41 ]. Altogether, this plethora of challenges led to ‘sub‐standard recovery and the failure to improve the living conditions of many survivors’ [ 19 ].…”

“…The extant literature reveals that typhoon Haiyan and its impacts in Tacloban City are well-studied (e.g., [ 4 , 5 , 11 , 12 , 14 , [19] , [20] , [21] , [22] , 28 , 29 , 34 , 35 , 37 , 41 , [43] , [44] , [45] , [46] , 49 , 52 ]). There are also studies published about the impacts of the pandemic on frontline healthcare workers [ 18 ], higher education institutions [ 10 , 31 ], students' psychological health [ 47 ], and Indigenous Peoples [ 15 ] in the Philippines which exposed the local and national government's dismal investments in public health.…”

Performing “digital labor bayanihan”: strategies of influence and survival in the platform economy

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“…Yet, power asymmetries also emerge in the process and although bayanihan is generally understood as an altruistic cultural practice, these solidarities can be undermined when uneven power relations persist (Eadie, 2019). In the same way, the work of influencers, although facilitating the sharing of support strategies crucial to help workers survive this pernicious labor market, can embody asymmetries in terms of benefit and power.…”