First day on the ground

Arrival in Tacloban

Looking southeast to Leyte Gulf from Candahug

As the plane made its final decent into Tacloban, we began to recognize the eastern coast of Leyte Province. We leaned forward to look out the window and we pointed out features of the landscape that, until now, we’ve only seen on maps and in pictures. Upon disembarking, one of the first things we noticed was the damage to the airport caused by the typhoon. Where there once were walls, or perhaps windows, there was just an open bay. Exposed beams showed that the roof overhang had been damaged. The broken luggage carousel marked the spot where arriving travelers should wait for their bags; the stationary conveyor belt offered a surface for airport staff to unload the luggage.  We grabbed our bags and walked through the open building to the pick-up area. As we waited for our ride we chatted with some of the taxi drivers. One told us his story of the surviving the storm: how his house was destroyed, how he was swept by the floodwaters from the airport to downtown Tacloban, and how he plans to rebuild his home in the same place because of its proximity to his work at the airport. All around we could see how people are trying to put their lives back together, repairing and rebuilding their houses with what materials they can find or afford.    

Our first order of business after arriving in Tacloban was a lunch meeting with several members of the Kusog Tacloban team at one of their favorite restaurants. During this welcoming luncheon, we had a chance to briefly get to know one another before jumping right into logistics and our schedule for the week. Trevor and I briefed them on the status of our work, showed them examples of the draft of the guide we’ve produced, and discussed the limitations we’ve experienced with the amount of available data.

First Visit to Candahug

Following lunch, we rode (by car) to Candahug, a barangay (neighborhood), where we had

The chapel is an important feature of Candahug.

our first chance to explain our project and draft guide to a target audience. We met in a room used as the medic station in the first floor of the barangay hall. There were about fifteen residents in attendance, including several members of the barangay council and the barangay chairman, fondly referred to as “Kapitana” Nimfa Pulga. Adding the Kusog team into the mix (Lea, Angie, and Lito) the barangay hall was filled with twenty people. A quick survey of the room revealed significant damage to the building. There were no panes in the windows, the woodwork had been stripped from the ceiling and wires hung from the ceiling. Kapitana told us that during Yolanda, the storm surge reached eight meters in height, causing floodwaters to sweep through the second story where residents took refuge. 

Kapitana shared with us some other background information on Candahug that we hadn't previously learned. For example one quarter of the barangay land is rice farms and one eighth of the land near the coast is mangrove swamps. Unfortunately Yolanda has devastated Candahug in many ways. The storm surge inundated the rice paddies, rendering them polluted from the salt water. Kapitana shared that some University of the Philippines students tested the soil and reported that the soil won't be able to be used for two years, which will have a dramatic impact on the farmers' livelihood. 

While Tagalog is the national language of the Philippines, most people speak at least some English. Waray-Waray is the local language of Leyte and Samar islands and the residents of Candahug are less fluent in English. So, Lito Mendones, a Kusog volunteer, agreed to be our interpreter during these meetings with residents. He introduced us, explained our project goals and the basic framework of our project. Then, with Lito’s help, we started walking the them through the hazard maps we created. These maps of Palo, the larger municipality in which Candahug is nestled, outline where flood, landslide, tsunami and liquefaction hazards are present. We showed some example reference sheets, which would provide some basic definitions and information about each hazard in addition to some simple infographics. Next, we started working through the questionnaires/score card. We explained that the questionnaire/score card demonstrated how this metric would be used to site an evacuation center (and how a similar method could be used to site other structures or land use like houses, schools, parks, conservation areas, etc.). The questionnaire/score card walks residents through a series of questions about conditions on a particular site that, when answered yes or no, result with a score. A suitability index would offer a range of points that would allow residents to see how the total score ranked the suitability of a site. We spent some time discussing this approach of quantifying a site. While this approach could be used to prioritize sites based on how they rank on the suitability index, there are limitations to this method. 

Marie, Trevor and "Kapitana" Nimfa Pulga

One of the limitations is the lack of available data. We have not been able to access detailed GIS data, so the maps of hazard risks we created are simplified versions of those published by the government and research institutions. This means that the maps we have are useful to illustrate relative risk, but not accurate enough to be used at the neighborhood level and especially not at a site scale. Additionally, we weighted each category on the questionnaire/score card equally in this first draft. Of course, we know that hazards are not all equal; some occur, for instance, less frequently than others but result in greater destruction. Through some discussion, the residents, barangay council members and Kapitana told us that while they recognize the limitations, that some form of this tool would be useful for them. Kapitana questioned the scoring method and its usefulness, and suggested that the questions just be answered “yes” or “no” without a numerical value. Trevor and I will adjust the questionnaire/score card over the next few days and take it back to Candahug on Saturday. This will result in a questionnaire that doesn’t get at prioritizing sites based on their suitability, but rather is a list of questions that residents should know to ask where development is taking place in their neighborhood.

We asked the residents what they felt was missing from this list of questions or where there are problems in their community that are not reflected on the maps. They quickly identified two areas of concern. The first is that there is not a direct evacuation route from their community. The current street design requires that residents evacuate towards the ocean to reach a road that will take them away from the ocean. In the case of a tsunami warning, this evacuation route is far from ideal. The second concern was there are areas of poor drainage leaving pools of stagnant water in the community. We made note of this and mentioned that tomorrow's meeting would involve reviewing the accuracy of the maps we have. We told them we will provide OpenStreet maps of Candahug and we hoped they would populate them with information that may be missing, like these aforementioned areas of poor drainage.

The national authority has asked the local municipalities to
enforce a no-build zone 40 meters from the coastline. Kapitana
is aware that her community may face mandatory relocation
but it's hard to know if and when this will happen.

Just as we were packing up, someone asked if there had ever been a detailed parcel map of Candahug. Kapitana told us about a large 4x8 ft map used to hang in the barangay hall. It was a detailed map of the barangay on which each house and structure were located and identified. Excited at the potential to acquire some detailed information, we asked if we could take a picture of it. Sadly, Kapitana told us that this map was destroyed in the typhoon. Though we can't bring back that map that they cherished, perhaps we can help them create a new one.

Salamat, and see you tomorrow, Candahug.