The Abas family in front of their devastated home in badly hit Tanauan, in Leyte. Photo credit: UNHCR/R. Rocamora/November 2013 Bayanihan after Typhoon Haiyan: are we romanitcising an indigenious coping strategy? by Yvonne Su and Ladylyn Lim Mangada August 2016 Narratives of disasters are full of binaries – victim/survivor, vulnerability/resilience and devastation/recovery. Immediately after a disaster, there are stories of destruction and death. But as people start to recover, victims become survivors, and vulnerability exists alongside community and individual resilience. The Philippines – a country well-versed in this exercise and known for its vulnerability as well as its resilience – experienced Typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda), the strong- est storm to have made landfall in reported history, on 8 November 2013. Despite the high level of devastation, the overriding impression, from media coverage, government officials, NGO reports and general sentiment - was one of resilience. A report by the Philippines Humanitarian Country Team in August 2014 (nine months after the typhoon) noted: “Self-recovery efforts by affected communities, combined with a scaling up of government-led interventions and effective national and international humanitarian efforts, have led to a significant reduction in the level of humanitarian needs…[and] many sectors are already well into the recovery phase on the ground.” Published on August 10th, 2016 by ODI’s HPN - http://odihpn.org/resources/bayanihan-after-typhoon-haiyan-are-we-romanticising-an-indigenous-coping-strategy/