by STY Haiyan in Calamianes, Palawan

The municipality of Coron, Palawan, at the northernmost tip of the province, was one of the gravely hit areas by STY Haiyan. The municipality of Coron reported a total of 9,834 families or 46,305 individuals affected.

Coron has 22 barangays, including the island barangays of Banuang Daan, Cabugao, Bulalacao, parts of Turda, Lajala and Tara, which is about four hours of boat ride in open sea from the municipality proper.

The Samdhana Institute focused its assistance on the Indigenous Tagbanua communities that were located in the island barangays, since these were not immediately reached by assistance from the responders and from the government.

Samdhana with the support of Christian Aid and ACT Alliance, successfully facilitated the distribution of standard food relief packs to 1,534 Tagbanua families, in six barangays. The emergency food distribution was carried out in close coordination with the local Peoples Organization - Tagbanua Tribes of Coron Island Association (TTCIA).

Included during this emergency relief intervention was the
livelihood assistance for the small Tagbanua community in
Sitio Biong, Brgy. Osmena, Municipality of Culion. A total of
53 families benefited from this. The livelihood assistance was facilitated through a series of consultations with the community for the identification of the specific livelihood that they will re-establish.

Under the same support, Samdhana will also facilitate a capacity-building activities in support of the livelihood activities, in particular trainings for hog- raising and seaweed farming. Samdhana will also undertake basic Disaster Risk Reduction orientation for community members.

Christian Aid and ACT Alliance support enabled Samdhana to pursue collaboration and network-building with the Local Government Unit and other actors in the relief and rehabilitation response. As a contribution to efforts for coordination, Samdhana will co- convene the Multi-stakeholder Forum for “Revisiting Local Vulnerabilities and Capacities under the 'New Normal'.

Samdhana will continue facilitating livelihood assistance as part of the early recovery, and capacity-building for both livelihood technical support, as well as Local capabilities for community resilience-building and sustainability of rehabilitation and recovery efforts, focusing especially on Indigenous communities in the municipalities of Coron, Busuanga and Culion in Northern Palawan.