Ormoc hopes for housing project to start soon

ORMOC CITY, July 14 -- The local government unit of this city hopes that the government will soon start the housing project for displaced families of earthquake.

Mayor Richard Gomez said that the city government is ready to use its own fund which is at least PHP70 million to purchase lands to be used as relocation site for the victims of the 6.4 magnitude earthquake.

Ormoc has 13 severely affected mountain villages. These are Tongonan, Cabaon-an, Milagro, Bagong, Cabintan, Gaas, Danao, Nueva Vista, Quezon Jr, San Jose, Liberty, Matica-a and Hugpa.

City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) as of Friday showed a total of 1,132 houses reported to be totally damaged but validation result placed the number at 1,190 houses.

The village of Lake Danao has the most number of totally damaged houses with 444, Tongonan with 201, Milagro with 177, Gaas with 158, Cabintan with 102, Cabaon-an with 58, Bagon with 23, Nueva Vista with 18, Liberty with six, while Quezon Jr, Matica-a and San Jose has one damaged houses each.

“Except for Lake Danao and Tongonan, other relocation sites are within the area, but if it is within the area it must be far from the fault line,” said Mayor Gomez.

Gomez said that instead of the recommended five meters to 30 meters away from the danger zone, he is suggesting that on site relocation should be around 300 meters away to ensure safety of the families.

Mayor Gomez is hoping that with the visit of the president, government agencies concern will soon start the rebuilding works for the affected residents of Ormoc.

“Hopefully within the year we can start the construction of their houses, I don’t want them to wait long before they can transfer to their new houses just like what happened during 'Yolanda',” Gomez said.

To date, a total of 683 families are living in identified evacuation centers. Some of them are using tarpaulins given by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Mayor Gomez said that aside from the damage on properties and infrastructures, the city government is asking the help of the Ormoc Chamber of Commerce and Industry to make an assessment on the damage of the earthquake to the local economy of Ormoc especially that electricity supply is still unstable. (Roel T. Amazona/PNA)