Not all school buildings in northern Cebu and western Leyte were completely destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan. However, all had their roofs swept off, leaving thousands of pupils unable to attend school. The SDC focused on renovating and repairing schools and on constructing temporary school buildings where no buildings remained.

In addition, the SDC was involved in restoring and repairing pumping stations and rural water supply systems as well as restoring and completing sanitary facilities and water supply systems in schools, the majority of them in remote areas. Four experts from the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit (SHA) were dispatched to ensure the successful implementation of these projects.

Improving the statics of buildings

The school renovations mostly involved renewing roof structures. Damaged roofs were either partially renovated or completely replaced. With all buildings, efforts were made to substantially improve their structural stability, to make them better able to withstand future natural disasters such as earthquakes or typhoons.

Due to the high number of school buildings affected in northern Cebu and western Leyte, Swiss Humanitarian Aid was unable to renovate all of the schools in those regions. However, some were covered by 'conditional cash grant' projects, meaning that Swiss Humanitarian Aid worked with the local authorities and contributed a fixed sum of money to repair school buildings, subject to set conditions. In this way, Switzerland not only repaired additional schoolrooms and other public buildings but also helped to create temporary jobs and other sources of income in the affected areas.

A total of 55 schoolrooms were renovated quickly, efficiently and sustainably, enabling some 1,650 schoolchildren to resume their education. At five schools that had been completely destroyed, Swiss Humanitarian Aid set up seven temporary classrooms for over 200 children. Four nursery buildings and two remote health posts were also repaired.

Restoring sanitary facilities and water supply systems

At the same time as the reconstruction work, a number of sanitary facilities were renovated and made operational, and water supply systems were restored and completed. In all, 12 schools received assistance.

In northern Cebu and western Leyte, local drinking water pumping stations, spring-tapping systems and pipes were damaged or completely destroyed by localised landslides and fallen trees. This meant that supplies of clean drinking water were no longer, or only partially, available. Swiss Humanitarian Aid worked to assist the operators of these local water distribution networks in various remote communities with the restoration and equipping of drinking water pumping stations, and to repair the damaged water supply systems.

Nine months after the typhoon, all pumping stations in northern Cebu were back in use, albeit most of them without chlorination. Over 30,000 people, including many schoolchildren, are now benefiting from restored drinking water pumping stations and rural water supply systems.

Awareness-raising and training for health inspectors

Swiss Humanitarian Aid also organised awareness-raising and training courses covering water quality, chlorination and sanitary facilities, in partnership with Oxfam and the WASH Cluster. These courses were attended by health inspectors and municipal staff from 30 communities affected by the typhoon – 14 in northern Cebu and 16 in western Leyte.

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