Tacloban after Haiyan: working together towards recovery

On 8 November 2013, Tacloban city was devastated by typhoon Haiyan, the strongest typhoon on record to make landfall. Despite crippling damage, the local government strove to coordinate recovery efforts towards a better, more resilient city.

This paper describes the experience, challenges, successes and lessons of the Tacloban city government as the city transitioned from the humanitarian response to the recovery and development phases following the disaster. It elaborates on the institutional mechanisms that the city government set up (and related national government and humanitarian mechanisms) to coordinate the humanitarian response, and how these transitioned into mechanisms to coordinate early recovery and longer-term development.