Huge waves wipe out 100 houses in Dumlog

Huge waves, presumably caused by a squall, wiped out 100 houses in the coastal barangay of Dumlog, Talisay City yesterday dawn but no lives were lost.

These were the same houses that were rebuilt after suffering the same fate last July, livelihood project coordinator Ike Durano said. He suggested the families, which are being sheltered at the barangay hall, should be prevented from rebuilding their houses.

"Kinahanglan i-evacuate gyud kay sige lang og balik-balik ang big waves, dili pa gani ni bagyo," he said.

Durano, city social welfare and development officer Felipa Solana, and city legal officer Aurora Econg had gone to the area to assess the damage.

In barangay Tanke, similar cases of houses being washed away by waves were also reported. City officials have counted more than 80 houses destroyed.

Econg told The Freeman that Mayor Socrates Fernandez has already ordered the relocation of the affected families.

The families will be housed in a covered basketball court in barangay Poblacion and the city would provide food for the time being.

"Everything is taken care of," Econg said. She said however that although the families own their lots, the city would have to disallow them from rebuilding houses there. The city would instead offer them a relocation site in barangay San Isidro. - Liv G. Campo