Operation Damayan

Abstract

Many humanitarian and military leaders noted that civil-military coordination during the Haiyan response in November–December 2013 was some of the best they had seen. Key lessons learned from previous disasters improved the speed and quality of overall coordination. Most notably, personnel with previous disaster response experience who had personal connections with other major players in the relief efforts considerably expedited interagency and transnational relief efforts. The informal professional networks among relief workers built during common training and exercises greatly facilitated the trust needed for effective and efficient cooperation, particularly in the early response phase. The Haiyan relief effort could be equally characterized as an impressive unity of effort despite the lack of standard operating procedures and shared communication platforms. The commitment of foreign assisting actors who came to the aid of the Philippines in Haiyan clearly demonstrated the increasingly globalized nature of disaster response. The ideas, practices, approaches, force capabilities, organizational redesign, and other lessons that came out of the Haiyan experience could potentially be adapted in other disaster scenarios. As global response to large-scale disasters demands a multilayered and multifaceted approach, the need for connective mechanisms becomes critical. In the coming years, the challenge remains to find more innovative ways to increase investment in disaster preparedness and to better integrate and leverage local capabilities and capacities with international response.