USAID donates ‘butterfly houses’ in Tacloban

TACLOBAN CITY, Feb. 24 (PNA) -- The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Philippine Disaster Relief Foundation donated “butterfly houses” to the city government as temporary shelter for residents badly hit by natural calamities.

The turnover on Friday is one of the highlights of the culmination of the Building Resilient and Economically Adept Communities (BREACH) program for communities badly hit by super typhoon Yolanda.

The BREACH project supports the development of transitional communities with provisions for individual shelter units, access to basic services, transport system to facilitate mobility of goods, people, and economic opportunities, and capability building on disaster preparedness for the beneficiary community.

The culmination was held at San Jose Central Elementary School.

One of the main initiatives is the construction of “butterfly houses” to the city government.

The butterfly house is a steel-framed housing structure that can be folded for compact shipping and storage, and unfolded into an immediately livable structure. It can be quickly sent to its target areas and can be set up in less than five minutes.

Tacloban disaster risk reduction and management office chief Brando Bernadas said butterfly houses are a big help to the city’s disaster preparedness program.

The city government will build a warehouse in Abucay village for the storage of 240 butterfly houses for emergency situations.

Prior to the turnover to the city government, 50 units were used as temporary shelters in Suhi village for families living in coastal communities.

“There is a transfer of technology to the city. We will be trained on how to handle the materials so we can sustain the quality,” Bernadas said.

Nobell Isabelo, BREACH project technical coordinator, said a team from the local government has been trained to maintain and set up the donated butterfly houses.

“They need to have proper training on proper maintenance, usage, installation and on what equipments and skills they need for them to be able to respond quickly,” Isabelo said.

Businessman and founder of Butterfly.PH, Rogelio Santos, Jr. who was present at the turnover ceremony, said that he designed the butterfly house to ensure that whenever a disaster strikes, it can be quickly deployed to places where it is needed most.

“I congratulate Tacloban because you are the first local government in the Philippines that has this kind of system. This will not only benefit the city, but also gives hopes to your neighbors. 

When they are in trouble, you can go there and help them rebuild,” Santos said. (PNA)
LAP/SQM/ROEL T. AMAZONA/EGR