With the loss of income, about a million more people were pushed deeper into poverty, according to the Asian Development Bank.
Building more than 200,000 new houses for the poor, who were left with nothing, is proving difficult. The government, backed by international donors, has built temporary bunkhouses and shelters, but many residents have hammered back their shacks in the same coastal villages where they were hit by the storm - and which have been officially declared "no-build zones."
About 3,000 people still live in tents in Tacloban, though the city government has pledged to move them to permanent housing by the end of the year. Under the long-term plan to protect against similar typhoon onslaughts, the government wants to build an elevated road connecting Tacloban to two coastal towns that will also serve as a dike.
"Like you, I am impatient," President Benigno Aquino III told residents during a visit Friday to nearby Eastern Samar province. He added: "We can't be reckless as we build back better."
