Samar lawmaker pushes calamity-proof evacuation centers

MANILA, Philippines - Rep. Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar, where Typhoon Ruby made landfall, has filed a bill seeking the construction of calamity-proof permanent evacuation centers throughout the country.

Evardone said the typhoon exposed the immediate need for more typhoon-proof evacuation centers.

“This bill provides for the establishment of evacuation centers in every city and municipality nationwide, and in a cluster of 10 barangays or for every 5,000 evacuees, with sufficient water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, and areas suitable for food preparation and storage, breastfeeding and lactation, and convenient to persons with disabilities,” he said.

Evardone said the measure also mandates that each evacuation center be provided with sufficient emergency supplies and equipment, including medicine, communications gadgets and rescue and response equipment.

The measure tasks the Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Science and Technology and Department of Environment and Natural Resources to design disaster-proof evacuation centers and to locate them in communities far from coastal areas.

Evardone said building such centers with water supply and sanitation and hygiene facilities “will address the health and sanitation issues currently experienced in present evacuation sites due to the lack of water supply and toilets.”

“Also, it will avoid the use of classrooms as evacuation sites and thereby ensure the immediate return to normalcy of the education of pupils and students,” he said.

“More importantly, the establishment of such evacuation centers in strategic areas will hasten the delivery of social services such as the delivery of relief goods, and the maintenance of peace and order,” he said.