This briefing paper presents key findings of research into how to better protect people displaced by disasters and how to improve disaster management in urban areas of the Philippines. Intended to support the Nansen Initiative, this study is part of a research project commissioned by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) – entitled ‘Urbanisation, disasters and displacement in Central America and Southeast Asia’ – which combines a global desk study with country studies on the Philippines and El Salvador. It explores challenges related to protection of the displaced and disaster management in urban areas before, during and after disasters and how humanitarian actors address them in policy and practice.