Hope Bridge, LCDE and CDRC’s livelihood assistance to Typhoon Haiyan’s victims in Marabut

Hope Bridge, LCDE and CDRC’s livelihood assistance to Typhoon Haiyan’s victims in Marabut, Samar

Hope Bridge/LCDE staff holding an assembly in
Barangay Tag-Alag, one of Hope Bridges project ares.

MARABUT, SAMAR – Since February 15 Hope Bridge and LCDE have begun area preparations for their planned early recovery livelihood assistance throughout five communities in Marabut, Samar.

This project is made possible through the concerted efforts between Leyte Centre for Development (LCDE), Citizens Disaster Response Centre (CDRC) and Hope Bridge – Korea. LCDE is an organization focused on Disaster Risk Management and Mitigation activities which include emergency response and rehabilitation; LCDE is also part of CDRC’s nationwide network of similar NGO’s with CDRC being LCDE’s national counterpart which coordinates the activities of all its partners across the Philippines, CDRC is an NGO which promotes community-based disaster management and responds to major disasters in the country whereas Hope Bridge – Korea is an NGO based in Seoul which was established as a domestic and international disaster relief aid organization.

The Program

Hope Bridge – Korea has been in Leyte and Samar as early as November, barely a week after the typhoon struck, and has conducted emergency relief activities with LCDE and CDRC in Eastern Visayas; as part of their support for the region they have, through a close partnership with LCDE, started early livelihood recovery projects in Marabut, Samar, a coastal town devastated by Typhoon Haiyan. Selected beneficiaries from San Roque, Tag-Alag, Caluwayan, Veloso and Legaspi will receive livelihood aid composed of fishing boats and equipment for fishermen while farmer beneficiaries will get rice seeds and farm tools. LCDE have field staff that are constantly on the project sites to validate data, implement and ensure the success of the program. Hope Bridges program is expected to be completed before the end of May.

Urgency

According LCDE’s field staff deployed in Marabut, there is a sore lack of government aid to communities there with only the large international NGO’s having any real impact and presence in the area. Some complaints about government intervention range from the absence of any systematized aid to the lack of livelihood assistance which is what is most needed by the people. Most of the residents of Marabut lost their capacity to restart their livelihoods which are usually agriculturally based (farming, copra etc.), and without immediate mediation could result in widespread starvation. 

By: Carlo Jerusalem

LCDE Advocacy Officer