BAÑACIA
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña wants a detailed on-site assessment of the situation in quake-stricken Surigao City before deciding what assistance City Hall can extend to the victims.
“We don’t like to be a burden. We want to be responsive to a specific need. I dispatched Nagiel (Bañacia) immediately to Surigao because he is from Surigao. (I told him) Go there and find out what they need,” he told reporters yesterday.
Osmeña said Bañacia, head of the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CCDRRMO), left for Surigao City last night to personally assess the area.
“I don’t know what we are going to extend until we know what they need. If they need cash, we will give cash,” he said. Bañacia is expected to arrive in Surigao City today.
In yesterday’s Cebu City Council session, the councilors agreed that the mayor should decide how much the city should give as assistance.
In a resolution by Councilor Jerry Guardo, who has relatives in the affected areas, called for a post disaster assessment of the area.
Guardo said based on reports, 1,264 houses were damaged and 167 were destroyed by the 6.7-magnitude earthquake that hit Surigao last Friday evening.
He said about 20 percent of the city’s population was displaced.
Initial cost assessment of damaged infrastructure was pegged at P201 million based on reports of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Guardo said.
Bañacia said a post assessment is needed to avoid duplication of assistance that the city will extend to the affected areas.
He said there were a lot of groups from the private sector and government agencies that are helping the families.
Bañacia said he will report his findings to the mayor and the City Council.
Whatever aid the city will give can be sourced from the city’s P147-million budget for disaster funds for this year, he said.
At the Capitol, Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III will personally visit the quake-stricken areas in Surigao City as the province will allocate P1 million in cash aid to the displaced families.
Baltazar Tribunalo, chief of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) said they already scheduled the trip.
“We hope the cash aid can help the families since Surigao also helped us in our hour of need,” he said, referring to the devastation caused by the earthquake and Super Typhoon Yolanda in Cebu in 2013.
Tribunalo said the financial assistance will be taken from the P166-million budget of the PDRRMO for this year.
The Provincial Board approved a resolution sponsored by Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale which authorized Davide to grant the aid last Monday.