Press Release
The House of Representatives has approved the measure seeking to build permanent evacuation centers in every city and municipality nationwide to better prepare the country for calamities and emergencies.
In plenary session last Tuesday evening, congressmen decided via voice voting to approve on second reading House Bill No. 8990 or the proposed “Act Establishing Evacuation Centers in Every City and Municipality,” principally authored by committee on disaster resilience chair and Leyte 4th district Rep. Lucy Torres.
Torres cited the urgency and necessity of the measure while the nation is facing the coronavirus pandemic and after the successive strong typhoons that ravaged provinces in Bicol, Southern Tagalog, Central Luzon, Cagayan Valley and Metro Manila.
The ranking lawmaker explained that the permanent evacuation centers “shall not only provide refuge or temporary shelter to the calamity victims but shall represent an integrated response to the basic needs of the displaced citizenry towards restoration of full normalcy in their lives.”
The substitute bill was a consolidation of 21 bills also authored by other House members, including Quezon City Reps. Alfred Vargas and Precious Hipolito Castelo, and Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez
It seeks the creation and maintenance of standard-based relief shelters and sites throughout the country, with the aim to decongest temporary evacuation centers in public schools and other private facilities.
The bill proposed that the evacuation centers “be designed to withstand wind speed of at least 300 kilometers per hour and moderate seismic activity of at least 8.0-magnitude.”
Among other requirements, the facilities should have cubicles that could house at least five families, restrooms, centralized kitchen and laundry areas, a generator and sufficient water supply.
Once a center is completed, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) will turn it over to the local government unit, “which shall then have the responsibility over the management, operations and maintenance of their respective permanent evacuation centers.”
The NDRRMC will also ensure that the center’s requirements are met in accordance with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan.
