Philippines (2014)

It killed more than 7,400 people, and injured more than 20,000.

"I carried my nephews through the surges the typhoon caused.  I was a council worker, but I found myself up to my neck in water, with two boys raised above my head to keep them safe."

Kenneth Renera was one of the estimated 11 million people caught in and affected by Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the Philippines on November 8th, 2013.

Today, thanks in part to RedR UK, he is one of millions of Philippines nationals working to ensure he, his community, and his country recover, and are better protected in future.

Haiyan's winds destroyed and damaged one million homes, leaving four million people homeless. It damaged water supply systems, contaminating drinking and sanitation water-storage systems with flood water.

The UN estimates that 11 million people were affected by the disaster - with 4.5 million left with no access to clean water and sanitation systems.

Kenneth lives in Santo Nino near the town of Palo, on the eastern side of Leyte island. Before the typhoon, he was a member of Santo Nino’s council.

Kenneth said: "More than 50% of homes in some parts of this region were destroyed, and many people are still living in temporary accommodation. My own house was swamped by floodwaters, and the oil refinery close to my home was damaged, which meant oil spilled into the water I waded through."

Inspired by the disaster, and using training developed and delivered by RedR in Disaster Risk Reduction and Shelter, he is now using his extensive local knowledge to mobilise people in his and neighbouring communities, to join the 'Build Back Safer' scheme.

He said: "The 'Build Back Safer' training is excellent. It means I can help people not just to rebuild their homes, but to make them stronger."

RedR UK, and our partners RedR India and RedR Australia, arrived in the Philippines on 21st January 2014 and remained in-country until 26th April.

We delivered 29 courses in Tacloban, Estancia, Ormoc and Manila, focusing on Humanitarian Essentials - basic training in aid work for workers and volunteers new to the aid sector - Project management, to help managers run their programmes more effectively; Shelter; WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene); and Disaster Risk Reduction.

In total, we used our expertise to train 577 people, 98% of whom were Philippine nationals, working for international NGOs such as Save the Children and Oxfam, national organisations and government bodies.

We also created training for UNICEF, in partnership with Relief International, and ran sessions for clusters - the groups set up to enable all relief and aid groups to exchange information and skills.

This has ensured those people affected by the typhoon have the skills and abilities to rebuild their homes and their lives, and made sure that knowledge remains in the Philippines, to be used to mitigate against, and respond to, the next disaster.

Vikas Goyal, our Philippines’ response team leader, explained: "There are a large number of international and local organisations, and government bodies, ready to deliver the aid in water and sanitation, shelter and disaster risk reduction that the Philippines needs.

And many people have volunteered to help their communities and others recover. But many of them are either new to the humanitarian sector, or have not worked in this kind of an emergency before.

We provided those people with the expertise and skills they needed to help their country recover from the devastation of Haiyan."

We designed 'Build Back Safer' training for Oxfam and its Philippines-based partner Green Mindanao, after the communities around Palo requested skills-based sessions.

The course has trained Philippines nationals how to build more resilient housing and community buildings - and to train them to pass those skills on to others.

It was attended by 16 people, who will now train 3,000 - 5,000 households to reconstruct their homes to help them stand up better to future disasters.

Kenneth said: "It has enabled me to give ideas to the people in how to build back better."

RedR UK’s Members were also at work on the ground, using their skills to deliver emergency aid, and help train Filipinos in disaster risk reduction.

One RedR UK Member, Marco Vissier - owner of the consultancy WASH for Life - led the Action Contre la Faim WASH response in the Visayas region.

He said: "The situation was very serious here. The Typhoon affected more than 2.7m people. In the early days, the needs were immediate: people had nowhere to live, and no access to water.

As time went on, we worked very hard to repair water systems. The water supply has been very seriously disrupted. And water is essential, for life and health. Lives have been on hold while people did the work that was necessary to enable recovery."

RedR UK’s CEO Martin McCann said: "It is excellent to be able to look at the Philippines and know that skills training delivered by us has helped save lives in the republic now, and through disaster mitigation techniques and training, will help save lives in the future.

Knowledge-sharing of this kind is vital around the world, and we at RedR UK would like to thank everyone who donated to enable us to provide training to the Philippines which is helping its people recover and strengthen for the future."