Planning and governance for disaster recovery in Tacloban after Typhoon Haiyan (the Philippines)

Abstract

Severe environmental disasters commonly affect Asia’s archipelagic countries. The Philippines, possessing the world’s sixth longest coastline with a length of 36,289 km, is frequently exposed to typhoons and their cascading impacts, including rainstorms, floods and infrastructure failure. One such disaster, triggered by the category 5 Typhoon Haiyan (also known under the local name Yolanda), the strongest ever to make landfall in the country, struck on 8 November 2013. This chapter explores the aspects of the governance of the recovery efforts as manifest in Tacloban City, which was the epicentre not only of the disaster impact, but also of the regional recovery.