93% hopeful of recovery for Yolanda areas – SWS

MANILA, Philippines - Nine out of ten Filipinos are hopeful that the areas damaged by Super Typhoon Yolanda can fully recover, according to the latest survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The Third Quarter SWS survey, conducted from Sept. 26 to 29, showed that 93 percent of respondents are hopeful that affected areas will recover from the devastation wrought by the strongest typhoon to hit the country.

SWS said 60 percent of the respondents are very hopeful, while 33 percent are hopeful. The remaining respondents are not hopeful (7 percent), somewhat not hopeful (6 percent), and not hopeful at all (1 percent).

The results are similar to results of the December 2013 survey, which showed that 95 percent are hopeful for the recovery of affected areas.

The latest survey also showed that 58 percent of the respondents believe that the damaged areas can recover within four years, 38 percent saying it will be three to four years, and 20 percent in one to two years.

20% seriously harmed

However, the latest survey showed that 20 percent of the respondents said that they or their families were “seriously harmed” by the typhoon.

This was up by seven points from the December 2013 survey, which showed that 13 percent reported that they or their families were seriously harmed.

The pollster also noted an increase in the proportion of families in all areas who said that they were seriously harmed by the typhoon, compared to the results of the December 2013 survey.

It rose 16 points in the Visayas (38 percent to 54 percent), ten points in Metro Manila (3 percent to 13 percent), four points in Mindanao (4 percent to 8 percent), and 3 points in Balance Luzon (11 percent to 14 percent).

General hope of full recovery among those who said their families were seriously harmed was at 90 percent, compared to 93 percent among non-victims.