External Evaluation Report: Post-Typhoon Ketsana Response and Recovery Interventions funded by the Disaster Emergency Committee in Vietnam and the Philippines

This report was prepared by consultants contracted to Save the Children (SC) in Vietnam to conduct an external evaluation of SC's post-typhoon Ketsana Emergency Response and Recovery Programmes in Vietnam and the Philippines. The evaluation is a requirement from the Disaster Emergencies Committee (DEC) - the donor - and the report is based on findings from site visits (including meetings, interviews and focus group discussions (FGD) with key project beneficiaries, partners and stakeholders) to the project areas conducted in November and December 2010. A conscious effort was made by the consultants to involve children in the evaluation. Typhoon Ketsana was the first in a sequence of disasters to strike South East Asia from late September to November 2009. The Philippines and Vietnam were severely affected by Typhoon Ketsana which made landfall in the Philippines on 25th September before gaining strength over the South China (or East) Sea and struck Vietnam a few days later. Both countries also suffered from further tropical storms (Parma in the Philippines and Mirinae in Vietnam) in subsequent weeks. These typhoons and tropical storms brought strong winds, flooding, landslides and other associated hazard events which impacted millions of households in both countries.