ESSU conducts ‘Life after Yolanda’ study

BORONGAN CITY, Philippines - – How do teaching and learning take place inside a tent classroom? What is it like living in bunk houses in the hardest-hit towns of Eastern Samar? What’s in store ahead for affected local government units in Eastern Samar months after super typhoon Yolanda zapped their communities?

These are just some of the questions that a team of professor-researchers led by Dr. Felix Afable, dean of the graduate school of the Eastern Samar State University would like to find out in their three-part project study titled, “Life after Typhoon Yolanda: The Case of Eastern Samar.”

Study 1, “Teaching and Learning in a Tent Classroom: A Test of Creativity and Resiliency” seeks to determine the teaching and learning process of elementary grade teachers and pupils who are holding classes in temporary classrooms made of tents amid ruins and destruction. A writer once said, “Experience isn’t the best teacher – disaster is.” Is it true that “We break when the world is just too much and in the process of breaking we are transformed into something difficult to understand,” according to New-York based writer Ninotchka Rosca? The researchers looked into various dimensions such as design and suitability of the tent classroom, teacher-pupil interaction and other behavioral and pedagogical aspects that have manifested during the course of the study.

Study 2, “Life in a Bunk House: Inputs to Policy Directions in Disaster Rehabilitation” on the other hand, attempts to investigate the prevailing condition of typhoon victims residing in bunk houses built across affected municipalities in Eastern Samar. As a microcosm of disaster rehabilitation plan of the government, it lends itself to something that needs to be further studied as far as adaptability and sustainability is concerned. The researchers during their onsite visits to the bunk houses found revealing truths about life’s situation of people residing in these bunk houses which could provide a lot of insights to future disaster rehabilitation program of the government.

Study 3, “Starting over Again: The Concerned LGUs’ Experiences and Future Plans after Yolanda” will delve into how these local government units are coping, moving and crafting plans to trounce the inscrutable effects of Yolanda.

The output of this project study is expected to be presented during the international conference on integrative disaster risk reduction management which ESSU through its president, Dr. Edmundo Campoto will host on Sept. 3-5. The conference, the first of its kind in the region will, among others, serve as a venue in sharing knowledge and experiences from among inter-agencies’ response and practices to disasters in thematic areas of mitigation, preparedness, response and rehabilitation.