RIGHT on Christmas Day 2018, a fire broke out in Barangay Duljo-Fatima in Cebu City. Affected by the widespread blaze were roughly seven sitios (Mansanitas, Buli, Catwalk, San Pedro, Plastikan, Pasong Kabayo, Spolarium Street). Around 650 families, or close to 3,075 individuals lost their homes, shanties, and personal possessions. Estimated damage to property was P117,963,00. The Cebu City Government issued a resolution declaring said areas in a State of Calamity, and to authorize the Barangay City Council to appropriate from the Barangay’s Disaster Risk Reduction Management Fund (DRMMF), to address the needs of the fire victims.
The above incident is no longer an uncommon incident, except that it occurred in a season of celebration. As is always the practice, fire victims are brought to what official language call an “evacuation center”. Unfortunately, said evacuation center is at best notional since to this day, schools, churches, and sports gyms actually serve as the temporary shelter for families affected by the fire. In some incidents, what is supposedly a temporary arrangement metamorphoses into a semi-permanent habitation. For example, a one-billion-peso convention center in a Visayan Province turned into a squatter settlement area?
It has been long time waiting for city governments to seriously sit down and decide to construct what should be real evacuation center/s for the purpose of aiding emergency and disaster victims. Fires are an expected and yearly event, like it or not, in every city, town, and barangay. The location of such evacuation centers may be conveniently referenced on geo-mapping of fire incidents and in a safe area far from possible floods, cascading soil or hilly areas etc. Required is a structure much larger than your average basketball gym, able to accommodate the largest recorded in-city evacuation, with at least 10-15 restrooms with baths for use, specially by female evacuees, laundry area, blankets, “banig,” tents, and ready to eat stock of food. In other countries, city warehouses are prepared for such eventuality. This is a no brainer
