BY GENALYN KABILING
President Duterte said Tuesday that it’s high time that government must build more disaster-resilient evacuation centers where people can take refuge in times of calamities.
Saddened by a series of typhoon that battered the country the past three weeks, Duterte is looking to build shelters “stronger than a typhoon” instead of converting schools and other public properties into evacuation centers whenever a calamity strikes.
“It is high time that government consider really, of course, in the government units facing the Pacific Ocean, gamit na gamit ito na, we build a strong structure, stronger than a typhoon that would come their way para mapuntahan ng mga tao,” he said in a televised address Tuesday night.
“Maybe small rooms with many comfort rooms where people can really stay for awhile,” he added.
Duterte has expressed concern that the regular functions of schools and government buildings are disrupted whenever they are used as temporary shelter of evacuees.
“They usually refer to the schools and public buildings, thereby creating an aberration in the movement or in the development of the different governmental functions and the education,” he said.
After learning from authorities about the planned repair of evacuation centers damaged by typhoon “Ulysses,” the President sought assistance from Congress to respond to the situation.
“Iyan nga ang sanang tugunan ng Congress, (Senator) Bong (Go) kasi pagka itong ganitong a deluge, they tend to go to places for shelter and relief,” he said during a meeting attended by Go and several Cabinet members at the Malago clubhouse inside Malacañang Park.
Prior to the President’s statement, Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año reported about the shortage of evacuation centers in the country. (Genalyn Kabiling)
