Tacloban gov’t modifies post-Yolanda plans

TACLOBAN CITY, Feb. 17 (PNA) -– The city government here has modified local development plans to respond to more destructive impacts of natural calamities.

Mayor Alfred Romualdez said that they have been incorporating lessons learned from super typhoon Yolanda to build more disaster resilient communities in the city.

“We have now modified our building code in Tacloban and learn to use scientific data in crafting out a better land use plan for effective urban planning in our city,” Romualdez said.

The country has laws covering the design and construction of buildings and other structures. These are the National Building Code and National Structural Code.

The official said that modification in the reconstruction efforts is very important “because lessons learned have to be passed on to the next generation.”

“What makes us strong as a city and as people is that we’re able to create mechanism that the challenges that we face become lessons learned,” he added.

The mayor admitted that with the massive reconstruction activities, the local government is running out of places to show to visitors the traces of destruction.

The city is considered as ground zero of the super typhoon with more than 2,000 casualties.

Of the 28,734 totally damaged houses in the city, 90 percent are along the coast. The number of partially damaged houses is 17,643.

At least 28 of the city’s 136 villages have coasts and lowlands considered as danger zones. These danger zones are mostly occupied by informal settler families.

The city is aiming to build 10,000 houses in the various resettlement sites in the northern part of the city. (PNA)
LAP/SARWELL Q. MENIANO