Lamberte Heads Study on Responses to Typhoon Yolanda

DLSU University Fellow and Professor of Sociology Exaltacion E. Lamberte currently leads the project team undertaking the study “Yolanda Aftermath: Risk Reduction Responses, Needs and Sentiments” at SDRC. Supported by the Center’s In-House Research Fund, the study seeks to gather information about the risk reduction responses, needs and sentiments of disadvantaged families affected by Typhoon Yolanda, the tropical cyclone that ravaged Southeast Asia on November 8, 2013. Focusing on the province of Leyte, “Yolanda Aftermath” undertakes an advocacy for meaningful recovery and reconstruction programs among the people, groups and government agencies and units concerned with rebuilding affected areas.

Specifically, the study looks into how community officials prepared residents for the coming of the typhoon;  the residents’ responses to the mobilization that took place in their area; the nature of people’s responses immediately after the typhoon and the coping mechanisms they resorted to; whether the families received relief and assistance immediately after the typhoon and what were the sources of assistance;  what factors influenced the flow of relief assistance to residents; what were the perceived and expressed needs of the families, and did they vary according to the level of damages affecting them and the community; and what were the thoughts and feelings of those affected, before and after the typhoon, and their sentiments toward the people they thought would attend to them.

A total of 942 families are participating in the study, covering the areas of Baybay City, Albuera, Ormoc City, Abuyog, Mayorga, Dulag, McArthur, Tolosa, Tanauan, Palo and Tacloban.