By Nanette Guadalquiver/PNA
BACOLOD CITY — The first of the initial nine regional evacuation centers in Western Visayas was unveiled in Bago City, Negros Occidental on Friday.
The PHP36-million, two-story structure, which stands on a 5,000-square meter lot in Barangay Lag-asan, was turned over by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) to the city government headed by Mayor Nicholas Yulo.
Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad, administrator of the OCD and executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), said President Rodrigo Duterte himself wanted the establishment of evacuation centers. “We will continue to do it. In 2019, we will seek a new design for the evacuation centers,” he said.
He added that residents of Bago will primarily utilize the evacuation center, but it can also be used by evacuees from the neighboring localities. The implementing agencies and the city government entered into a memorandum of agreement for the operation of the evacuation center.
Regional Director Jose Roberto Nuñez of OCD-6 said the other evacuation centers are scheduled for completion next. “Yes, this is the first in Region 6. We have nine, but the others are still not completed. Maybe in the first quarter (of next year) the second, in Antique, will be finished,” Nuñez said.
According to the DPWH-6, all the nine centers have a total contract amount of PHP310.301 million.
In Negros Occidental, the two other evacuation centers will rise in San Carlos City and Sagay City. Aside from the one in San Jose, Antique, similar facilities are also being constructed in Kalibo, Aklan; Roxas City, Capiz; Nueva Valencia, Guimaras; and Carles and Zarraga in Iloilo.
The evacuation centers have a building that can accommodate at least 33 families or 130 individuals; an infirmary building that will serve as hospital for the sick and injured evacuees; and pharmacy for quick medical response during calamity.
Each center has toilets and bathrooms for male, female and person with disability, generator room for emergency cases, pump room, laundry area, water tank, cistern tank and materials recovery facilities. It will also have a space for personnel of the Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council and the Office of the Civil Defense.
