CEBU CITY, Nov. 7 (PNA) — Cebu was among the provinces that quickly recovered from the devastation of super typhoon Yolanda on Nov. 8 last year, a disaster risk reduction official said.
Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (PDRRM) Officer Baltazar Tribunalo said it’s just a matter of working together, saying there is already plenty of survivors who have rebuilt their houses.
He, however, admitted he hasn’t received any feedback yet on when the P12 billion that they asked from the National Government for the rehabilitation of the northern towns could be downloaded.
“I would like to reiterate that Cebu was among those that quickly recovered, from the fallen experience to recovery. We were able to recover,” Tribunalo said.
He said there were no reported deaths in northern Cebu due to hunger or lack of shelter after Yolanda.
”No one died because of hunger. No one was brought to the hospital because they do not have a house to protect them from the heat and rain,” Tribunalo said.
But he said many families still live in tents and within the 40-meter no-dwell zones, exposing them to risks brought about by severe weather.
The Cebu Provincial Rehabilitation, Recovery and Development Plan listed 152,746 families displaced when Yolanda struck on Nov. 8, 2013.
Of this number, 16,290 households have to be relocated because their homes sit within the 40-meter danger zone.
In Bogo City, and Daanbantayan and Medellin towns alone, only 134 of the estimated 10,000 households have been relocated to permanent shelters.
The delay in the transfer of these households to safer ground was attributed to lack of funds, lack of relocation sites, legal concerns and refusal to leave their old homes.
In the meantime, private sector and humanitarian organizations have brought in volunteers, provided materials or donated lots where the survivors’ houses may be built.
These organizations include Gawad Kalinga, Habitat for Humanity, Islamic Relief, March for Christ, Oxfam, and Red Cross.
One year since Yolanda’s onslaught, the National Housing Authority (NHA) has yet to start building houses.
The agency is set to build 22,423 houses in the 16 affected areas: Bogo City and the towns of Bantayan, Borbon, Daanbantayan, Madridejos, Medellin, Pilar, Poro, San Francisco, San Remigio, Sogod, Sta. Fe, Tabogon, Tabuelan, Tuburan and Tudela.
The project is estimated to cost P7 billion but NHA 7 Manager Gavino Figuracion said only P2.2 billion is available yet, which is equivalent to 7,000 houses.
Figuracion, however, said only 500 may be completed this year.
Because of this, Figuracion said the project will have to be implemented on a first-come, first-served basis for municipalities based on their submission of the project plans and detailed engineering.
The local government unit must also have a title, not just a tax declaration, for the land where the houses will be built.
At least 10 local government units (LGUs) have identified lots that may be used as relocation sites. Construction work and site development have started in some areas.
The situation is a lot more complicated for six municipalities comprising the islands of Bantayan, namely, Bantayan, Madridejos and Santa Fe, and the Camotes towns of Pilar, Poro and San Francisco.
Bantayan and Camotes have been declared wilderness and mangrove forest reserve areas, respectively, by then President Ferdinand Marcos in the early 1980s.
As a result, lots in these areas can neither be privately owned or titled, areas where the NHA cannot build permanent structures for typhoon survivors. (PNA)