Over 6,000 Leyte quake victims remain in evacuation centers

TACLOBAN CITY, July 18 -- At least 6,024 people remain in evacuation centers nearly two weeks after the deadly magnitude 6.5 earthquake rocked Leyte province, the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) reported on Tuesday.

Of the total, 3,957 persons or 1,030 families were badly displaced in Ormoc City while 2,067 individuals or 581 families were heavily affected in nearby Kananga town.

Outside evacuation centers, at least 2,442 families composed of 9,626 persons have been taking shelter outside their homes or in makeshift houses. 

The OCD regional office said on Tuesday that 3,593 houses were damaged by the ground shaking with 1,462 categorized as totally destroyed.

OCD Regional Director Edgar Posadas said the Department of Social Welfare and 

Development (DSWD) have been providing the basic food and shelter requirements of badly affected families.

“Aside from receiving goods from the government, victims in evacuation centers have also been getting aid from various organizations through the DSWD,” Posadas said.

The national government will be giving emergency shelter assistance (ESA) to earthquake victims, according to DSWD. 

ESA is an assistance from the government in the form of either cash or building materials for disaster-affected families to rebuild their damaged houses in a safe location.

After super typhoon "Yolanda" struck in 2013, victims received PHP10,000 to PHP30,000 cash assistance to rebuild their homes.

The July 6 earthquake has killed at least three people and injured 310 others. Several aftershocks rocked the province in nearly two weeks. The strongest was magnitude 5.8 that injured 78 people, according to the OCD report.

The fatalities are 40-year-old man from Kananga town, 19-year-old woman from Ormoc City, and 88-year-old woman from Carigara town.

A total of 113 schools, 10 health facilities, 35 government buildings, and seven commercial buildings in Leyte province sustained damages after the tremor.

The government officially recorded PHP220.21 million worth of damages in the province.(Sarwell Q. Meniano/PNA)