DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 17 October) – The first few temporary shelters for quake-hit victims in Davao Oriental are expected to be finished next week, said the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development Davao Region (DHSUD-Davao).
This move by the DHSUD came after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., during his visit in the province this week, ordered the building of modular shelter units instead of tent cities for the victims of the two earthquakes that hit off the coast of Manay town on October 10.
Atty. Naiza Mae Delos Santos, Regional Director of DHSUD-Davao said a total of 150 modular housing units will be installed starting this weekend in Davao Oriental and some units can start housing families on Monday next week.
The deadline for the completion of the first 50 temporary shelters is set on November 10-15 in Tarragona town. Another 50 shelters will be installed in Baganga town.
The exact relocation areas in Manay for 50 additional shelters was still being discussed by the provincial government and DHSUD-Davao.
These shelters will be constructed following the model used for the ”Bayanihan Village” in San Remigio, Cebu, which was hit by a magnitude 6.8 earthquake on September 30.
Delos Santos said the selection of quake-hit families that can be housed at the temporary shelters was based on the municipality with the most number of partially and totally damaged houses.
According to the recent tally made by the province, Tarragon has 106 totally damaged and 1,368 partially damaged houses. Baganga has 217 totally damaged and 805 partially houses, while Manay has recorded 129 totally damaged and 3,113 partially damaged houses.
In a press briefing Thursday morning, delos Santos said that since DHSU-Davao can only give 150 units for now, they prioritized the area with the most totally damaged houses based on the referral from the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
She said their office has also turned over 200 modular tents, 300 shelter grade tarpaulins ,and 500 shelter fixing kits to the provincial government, which has set the distribution of the materials on Friday and Saturday (October 17-18).
Asked about the maximum length of stay of the victims in these shelters, she said they may stay there for three to five years. She noted that building permanent houses would take long, especially for quake-hit victims whose houses were crushed.
”That’s the plan we’re looking at. However, the LGU (local government unit) should also be aware that we should work on [the] relocation of the affected families because these are not supposed to be long-term shelters,” she said in mixed English and Filipino. (Daniel Jamito/MindaNews)
