Tacloban wins $150k Yolanda rehab grant

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines — The Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) on Friday announced that Tacloban City is one of the 12 challenge winners that received a seed grant of US$150,000 for the construction of the three pilot projects for continuing rehabilitation and recovery efforts from the typhoon Yolanda devastation three years ago.

PRA director Edilberto de Jesus said that—out of 400 proposals received by the water window challenge—the resilient team of Tacloban was granted with a project that will cover a coastal protection for the city.

"It’s a way of providing coastal defense not just by building structures—like dike and enbankment—but also using a new trend in coastal resilience (building nature strategy), which means environmentally sound project to help reforest mangroves,” de Jesus said.

Right after the Yolanda devastation, the PRA urgently requested the Netherlands government to access its Dutch Risk Reduction (DRR) facility. Then, sometime in July 2014, the Dutch DRR team conducted scoping mission that resulted in the government’s deployment of a consortium of engineering and water experts to develop a master plan for a coastal protection strategy in Tacloban and nearby Palo town.

After months of study, the master plan—following the Dutch "building with nature" approach—was finalized in May last year, with a recommendation for a multi-level safety approach.

"The first level is prevention by minimizing probability of flooding by hard and soft engineering interventions; the second level is spatial planning to minimize damage and causalities; and the third one is the emergency management involving public awareness and early warning system," de Jesus told The Freeman.

Tacloban’s comprehensive land use plan adopted the second and the third level components, which are now being implemented, targeting eight to 10 pilot sites for mangrove reforestation.

De Jesus that the program grant will be used for the construction of three pilot projects on selected sites in Tacloban, which will involve a series of training to be executed by local participants in partnership with the city government.

City administrator Irene Chiu, speaking in behalf of the city government, expressed readiness in coming up with a partnership plan in this project. (FREEMAN)