Disaster Profile

Typhoon Rai (known locally as Odette) made its first of nine landfalls on December 16, 2021, in the Central-Southern region of the Philippines, causing severe rainfall, flooding, and mudslides. Rapidly intensifying over a 24-hour period, it had maximum sustained winds of 195 KM/hr and was the strongest storm of 2021 to affect the country.

The super typhoon affected an estimated 9.9 million people, killed 405, and left 2.4 million in need of assistance across all sectors, primarily with food, shelter, and livelihoods. Around 144,000 people were displaced immediately after the disaster. As of June 10, 2022, 6,800 people still remain displaced. There was significant damage to infrastructure, schools, community structures, and farms; 1.7 million homes were damaged, 415,000 homes were destroyed, and according to recent reports in some areas, 80% of coconut trees were uprooted entirely, whereas they often sway and remain standing in typhoon force winds. In the beginning stages, the response and recovery efforts were delayed due to the spread of COVID-19 and travel limitations within and into the islands.

Southern Leyte, where our program is located, was one of the worst-affected provinces. Out of 528 schools in Southern Leyte, 312 were impacted by Odette. From these 312 schools, there are 522 totally destroyed classrooms and 1,673 classrooms with major damage.

We are working on nine schools in rural communities near the municipalities of Malitbog, Tomas Oppus, Macrohon and Padre Burgos, which educate a total of 2,347 students combined. The schools are a mix of elementary, teaching kindergarten to grade 6, and secondary, teaching grades 7 to 12. As per local COVID-19 restrictions, elementary schools teach in shifts over morning and afternoon class sessions, while in secondary schools, only senior grades have in-person classes. We will construct 1 to 3 Transitional Learning Spaces (TLS) at each school. Our project team will consist of experienced construction and engineering staff to ensure that the TLSs are built to the highest safety standards.

You can learn more about the impact of Typhoon Rai on the Philippines in a comprehensive report prepared by ReliefWeb (UN OCHA).