NHA to assist typhoon victims based on needs

MANILA, Philippines - The National Housing Authority (NHA) said it will provide shelter assistance to victims of typhoon Yolanda based on their varying needs.

Florian de Leon, head of NHA's public information office, said the agency proposed three options for families affected by the typhoon.

Option A covers resettlement and housing materials assistance for the affected families, Option B includes no resettlement for formal settlers but NHA will provide housing materials assistance of P20,000 per affected family while Option C excludes resettlement for formal settlers as well but covers housing materials assistance of P5,000 per affected family.

Data from the NHA show that the stimated budget per option is P64.5 billion, P55.3 billion and P53.4 billion, respectively.

The agency plans to assist the families affected through corrugated galvanized iron sheets, rough coconut lumber, common wire nails, roofing nails, standard deformed bars and cement.

NHA revealed that about 530,479 of the houses were totally damaged while 573,149 others sustained partial damage.

The data further showed that total shelter damage is most widespread in  Region VI (247,035 houses), followed by Regions VIII (213,351 houses), VII (59,000 houses), IV-B (8,885 houses), V (2,107 houses), XIII (45 houses), IV-A (34 houses), XI (20 houses) and X (two houses).

Meanwhile, partial damage is most prevalent in  in Region VI (253,585 houses), then Regions VIII (247,855 houses), VII (36,026 houses), IV-B (24,614 houses), V (9,721 houses), IV-A (806 houses), XIII (504 houses), XI (20 houses) and X (18 houses).