MANILA, Philippines - The thousands left homeless by tropical storm “Sendong” in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City may find themselves displaced a second time upon the opening of classes on Jan. 3.
This developed after the Department of Education (DepEd) reportedly denied appeals from local governments to extend the use of classrooms as temporary shelters for evacuees until February next year.
In Cagayan de Oro, a total of 22 evacuation centers are serving as shelters in the city for some 4,981 families, according to Rey Magbanua, Response Manager for the Humanitarian Response Consortium (HRC).
Following this development, the government has begun to build “tent cities”– clusters of hundreds of tents where an estimated 2,581 families will be staying in the next months before their new permanent homes are constructed, he said.
DepEd had earlier pronounced that classes would resume in public schools all over the country on Jan. 3, even in areas badly hit by Sendong.
Education Secretary Armin Luistro said the DepEd regional office was trying to look for alternative areas where classes can be conducted for schools in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City.
Luistro was referring to schools that were completely destroyed by the floods caused by Sendong.
“We are trying our best to look for alternative venues so classes in the affected area can resume on January 3,” Luistro said.
“Our field officials are also coordinating with other schools in nearby towns where students can be temporarily accommodated,” Luistro said.
DepEd said the local government has been tasked to look for alternative sites to accommodate the thousands of evacuees being sheltered at schools being used as evacuation sites.
Magbanua, however, appealed to the government to give consideration to the welfare of the evacuees.
“We appeal to the government to respect the right of evacuees to a dignified transfer to safe and clean shelter as they are trying to make sense of the painful loss they have gone through,” he said.
Magbanua said local governments should also ensure that evacuees are represented at every level of decision-making regarding their relocation to new shelters.
He said the new shelters should be located in areas safe from natural hazards and should have access to water and can withstand inclement weather, Magbanua said.
He added livelihood options, such as cash-for-work, should be put in place.
“Without meeting these basic conditions, we can expect more problems to get in the way of helping evacuees,” Magbanua said.
“Transferring them to a shelter that is far from work opportunities will also force them to go back and live in unsafe areas,” he said.
Vice President Jejomar Binay, chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), said the victims whose houses are located in the danger zones in Iligan would not be allowed to return.
He revealed efforts of securing a 30-hectare land in the city for the relocation of the victims.
Binay said the government would help the victims, living beyond the danger zones, rebuild their homes.
Binay said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has provided “bunk houses” serving as temporary shelter of the victims.
He said the national government is complementing the efforts of the local government because they know better the needs of the residents.
On the other hand, Luistro said school children in public schools in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City whose families were victimized by Sendong will get stress debriefing when they go back to school on Jan. 3.
Luistro said their desire to administer the helpful counseling and stress debriefing sessions was among the reasons why they wanted schools in areas affected by Sendong in northern Mindanao to also resume classes.
“Our teachers will conduct the debriefing using the modules they have prepared in partnership with NGOs and other educational institutions,” Luistro said.
He said the sessions would help children vent their feelings about the ordeal that they and their families went through during the calamity and its aftermath.
Luistro said public school teachers in the affected areas had already been given stress debriefing.
“We’ve done that. That has been initiated and the program is continuing,” he said.
DepEd had placed the total damage and destruction wrought by Sendong on public schools in northern Mindanao and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao at P105.95 million.
A total of 39 schools involving around 406 classrooms were affected, sustaining various kinds of damage.
The total estimated cost of damage on school buildings, on the other hand, was placed at more than P79.6 million.
The affected schools were in Regions 9, 10, 11, ARMM and the Caraga region, covering the divisions of Cagayan de Oro City, Iligan City, Agusan del Sur, and Lanao del Sur.
Four schools in Cagayan de Oro City, 10 schools in Iligan City and one school in Compostela Valley were used as evacuation centers to house affected families.
For the rest of the schools in the country, DepEd said it expected public school heads and teachers to use the working days this week to start preparing for class resumption on Jan. 3.
Other assistance
Other national government agencies like the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has allocated some P242 million for the construction of core shelter units for victims of the storm.
Other local government units led Pampanga Gov. Lilia Pineda and Mindoro Gov. Alfonso Umali also made their respective donations to the victims in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.
Former senator Juan Miguel Zubiri led the local chapter of the Philippine Red Cross in giving aid to the evacuees in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan City and Bukidnon.
“We even went to places where there are no evacuation centers but the residents are also severely affected and are trying to rebuild their houses but just the same, they also need assistance. So, we coordinated with barangay officials and conducted impromptu relief operations in an open and muddy field with only flashlights lighting our distribution,” Zubiri said.
The Philippine government has received a total of $12,613,473.87 worth of foreign donations/pledges.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the amount includes those received from Filipino communities, Philippine embassies and consulates general around the world and private individuals/groups. It also does not include donations/pledges without equivalent monetary value.
The DFA said the total donations/pledges consist of $4,780,656.15 in cash, $2,122,255.14 in kind and $5,710,563 worth of pledges.
Top donors include the United States, Australia, China, Czech Republic, South Korea, Indonesia and New Zealand.
Other foreign donors include Japan, Spain, Ireland, Malaysia, Singapore, Chile, Thailand, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Oman.
Filipino communities around the world have also sent their assistance.
Private individuals and businesses have also donated to the cause. International organizations have stepped in to help.
More help needed
Even as more help is on the way, authorities have their hands full aiding the thousands of evacuees displaced by flooding in other parts of the country due to the presence of an active low pressure area in the Visayas region.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said 10 people have already died and four others injured in the floods that hit Agusan del Norte and Leyte.
The heavy rains caused by the low-pressure area reached as far north as Isabela province where four people drowned after their boat capsized because of strong waves.
Four people were injured in Central Visayas and Eastern Visayas. Two others were reported missing in Leyte and Surigao City.
The NDRRMC said a total of 32,106 families or 137,908 persons have been affected in 360 barangays in Bicol, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Davao and Caraga regions.
Some 2,383 families or 11,156 persons have been evacuated to 28 evacuation centers.
The government and its private sector partners have provided about P1.9 million in assistance to affected residents in Central Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Davao and Caraga regions.
Blanche Gobenciong, director of the Office of Civil Defense in Caraga, said the low pressure area affected 12,035 families or 59,468 persons in the region.
Other areas affected by the low pressure area are Oriental Mindoro, Palawan, Catanduanes, Capiz, Cebu, Davao del Norte and Agusan del Sur.
The low-pressure area also caused flooding in parts of Cebu City, Capiz, Mandaue City, Consolacion, Catmon, Sogod, Danao City and Asturias, all in Cebu province.
In Davao del Norte, flooding occurred in Kapalong and Asuncion due to the overflowing of Saug-Lubuganon River and Ilog Creek. Affected were the low-lying areas in Compostela, Montevista, New Bataan, Monkayo, Maco and Nabunturan, all in Compostela Valley.
A state of calamity was declared in the towns of Kapalong, New Corella and Asuncion in Davao del Norte.
As of yesterday, the NDRRMC’s official death toll left by Sendong in wide areas of Northern Mindanao has reached 1,257 while an estimated 1,023 are still missing, 85 of them have been official reported by their surviving relatives. –With Jaime Laude, Alexis Romero, Pia Lee-Brago, Jess Diaz, Edith Regalado, Jose Rodel Clapano, Ben Serrano, Charlie Lagasca, The Freeman