Philippines
HI is implementing emergency and development actions aiming at improving protection, quality of life, and the promotion of rights of vulnerable individuals, their families, and communities in different locations throughout the country.
Destruction in Leyte province following typhoon Haiyan | © B. Blondel / HI
Actions in process
HI has been operating in the Philippines since 1985.
The organisation’s teams regularly provide emergency response in the wake of cyclones, volcanic eruptions or floods, which regularly strike the country. Following Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, the most violent typhoon ever recorded, HI also launched an emergency response in the provinces of Leyte and Capiz.
HI now sets up and strengthens existing prevention, early detection, referral and response systems relating to development delay in children, the onset of disability, etc. including by training early childhood actors and medical staff and advising parents.
HI also builds the resilience of vulnerable communities to natural disasters by raising the natural disaster risk awareness of civil society organisations and other organisations. The priority for HI is to enable the most vulnerable people, including isolated people, pregnant women, and people with disabilities, to prepare for these disasters, extremely frequent in the Philippines, to be able protect themselves, and to ensure they are not forgotten by organisations providing victim assistance in the aftermath of disasters. HI also raises the awareness and prepares directly the families most vulnerable to disasters in communities.
Areas of intervention
concretely
Situation of the country
Located in South-East Asia, the Philippines archipelago is one of the most vulnerable regions on the planet in terms of natural disasters. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions cause substantial losses and extensive damage.
Typhoons are very frequent and their secondary effects – landslides, flooding and flash floods – are devastating. Typhoon Haiyan hit the country in November 2013 and left 8,000 people dead and 15 million affected in some way by the disaster. During the two decades that preceded Typhoon Haiyan, natural disasters had already killed more than 31,000 persons and affected 98 million people in the Philippines.
In the Philippines, poverty is not just a rural phenomenon. There are major inequalities between different regions and socio-economic groups. The poorest provinces are those of Visayas and Mindanao, but poverty is also very acute in the southern regions of Luzon.
Number of HI staff members: 35
Date the programme opened: 1985
