Whose views matter in post-disaster recovery? A case study of “build back better” in Tacloban City after Typhoon Haiyan

Abstract

Local people's perceptions of recovery are commonly overlooked, even though they should be at the centre of the recovery process. This paper aims to understand the ways in which locals view recovery and, more specifically, how the local definitions of recovery compare with the concept of ‘building back better’ extensively used by policy makers, scholars and humanitarian agencies. The study draws on 460 questionnaire-based surveys with people affected by Typhoon Haiyan in three barangays, the smallest administrative unit in the Philippines, in Tacloban City as well as twenty key informant interviews with community leaders, and staff from non-government organizations and the government. The paper shows that a large majority of affected people see recovery as coming back to normal and only a few associate the recovery with reducing disaster risk. It further identifies a divide between outside organizations and local people on how they perceive “build back better”, where a lack of common understanding of what ‘better’ means and limited support, can lead to unsuccessful recovery.