A study by two researchers looks at the effects of how the language used to describe recovery and resiliency after natural disasters can affect response and relief efforts moving forward. “Drawing on our research in the aftermath of the 2013 Typhoon Haiyan disaster in Eastern Visayas, Philippines, we found that few meaningful lessons were drawn from Haiyan because the recovery of survivors had been romanticized and distorted. While resilience and stories of the communities “building back better” has become the legacy of Haiyan, those on the ground says it’s actually more like “building back bitter’,” wrote Yvonne Su, PhD candidate, International Development and Political Science, University of Guelph and Maria Tanyag, lecturer, International Relations, Australian National University. “We found that after almost six years, there are now worrying signs in the telling and re-telling of the disaster, and the recovery that occurred afterwards, especially for the hardest-hit communities.”
The researchers pointed to three myths that they described occurring after the typhoon that they said hindered the ability of the needy to get the help they needed: “resilience is innate”, “the poor are endlessly resourceful” and the overstating of the importance of “overseas migrant remittances”.
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