‘Tent city’ eyed as temporary shelter for mudslide survivors

SAINT BERNARD, Southern Leyte — Municipal officials are thinking of putting up a "tent city" as temporary shelter for the 286 survivors of the Feb. 17 massive mudslide in Barangay Guinsaugon who are scheduled to vacate all evacuation centers here on May 1.

Engineer Victoria Labastida, municipal planning officer, told The STAR that the "tent city" may be built in Barangay Magbagacay using the tents donated by the Japanese government.

Labastida said they came up with the alternative shelter for the mudslide survivors after officials of the Cristo Rey Regional High School gave them just one more month to stay in the school premises.

The presence of the evacuees has forced students to hold their classes in tents in the school compound and at the St. Bernard Central School.

The mudslide left 154 people dead and at least 950 others missing and presumed dead. A total of 482 villagers survived the tragedy.

Lack of funds has hampered efforts of the municipal government to relocate the survivors.

Although the municipal government got P4 million in cash donations, councilor Herminigildo Castil said this is not enough to fund the survivors’ relocation.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with Gawad Kalinga, will start building 200 housing units for the survivors on April 7, Allan Cabigon, the federation’s representative, said during a recent meeting of Oplan Kinabukasan.

Cabigon said the federation will also build four schoolbuildings at the relocation area in Barangay Magbagacay.

Meanwhile, residents of five other barangays — Sug-anon, Nueva Esperanza, Hinabian, Ayahag, and Magatas — have to be relocated permanently as the Mines and Geosciences Bureau identified their villages as landslide-prone.