A decade after Haiyan: What’s next for ICSC in Eastern Visayas?
by Niña Nicole Cerilla EDITOR’S NOTE: Nini is a climate policy analyst of ICSC. Tacloban City holds a core memory for Filipinos who lived through 2013: that year, the most catastrophic typhoon in Philippine history, Typhoon Haiyan (locally known as Yolanda), struck many communities in the Philippines, hitting first the Eastern Visayas region. At 14 years old and living 400 miles away from Tacloban, I still remember seeing the thousands of victims cry for help as I watched the news behind the TV screen. Haiyan’s destructive waves and winds disrupted more than 16 million lives in Eastern, Western, and [...]
Tacloban steers local climate solutions 9 years after Haiyan
TACLOBAN CITY, 11 November 2022 – Taclobanons continue to power their communities with portable solar energy systems, strengthening their climate and disaster resilience nine years after Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) hit the city. Barangay officials and electricians, government trainers, and humanitarian workers assembled seven portable solar-powered devices or TekPaks as part of the three-day Solar Scholars training carried out by Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) RE-Charge Pilipinas and the Philippine Red Cross Leyte chapter at the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Region 8 training center from November 8 to 10. Photo (c) Ira Guerrero/ICSC [...]
Activists help Tongans build resilience in wake of disaster
by Matt Manukuo | January 21, 2022 | Published by Pacific Media Network | READ THE STORY HERE Environmental activists in Tonga are preparing to teach Tongans how to produce solar power in the wake of the devastating volcanic eruption and tsunami. The disaster has destroyed homes, cut communication lines, and caused major power outages. The goal is to help build greater resilience in the Pacific following natural disasters, says Joseph Sikulu, managing director of the organisation 350 Pacific. “Next month we are launching our solar scholars training that will be running on the island. “This teaches communities how [...]
Philippine women switch on solar to light their way in a storm
by Geela Garcia | December 14, 2021 | Published by Reuters | READ THE STORY HERE MARABUT, Philippines, Dec 14 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When Haiyan, one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded, smashed into the central Philippines in 2013, the town of Marabut in Eastern Visayas region suffered zero casualties. More than 1,000 residents scrambled up 32 feet (9.75 m) of slippery soil and limestone to take refuge inside the Tinabanan Cave, known for providing shelter since colonial times. Lorna dela Pena, 66, was alone when the super-typhoon landed on Nov. 8, killing more than 6,000 people [...]
Salcedo Mayor Melchor Mergal commits to integrate renewable energy in disaster risk reduction
“In a municipality that is prone to disasters, we have to keep abreast with the new technologies that are adaptable, practical and are cost effective. Indeed, energy is not included in our clusters of responses during disasters and emergencies; today’s event gave us the required knowledge how important it is for the energy cluster to be included before, during and after disasters.” Thus spoke Salcedo Mayor Melchor Mergal in the TekPak Orientation and Turnover event under Oxfam’s and Plan International’s B-READY Project held last April 19, 2021 at Salcedo, Eastern Samar a day after Typhoon Bising (Surigae) brought rains [...]