At least 700 people were rendered homeless in a fire that struck a densely populated area in Sitio Kanipaan, Sawang Calero, Cebu City shortly before midnight on Thursday.
The fire lasted for over an hour and razed to the ground around 100 houses made of light materials, said Fire Superintendent Ceasar Patrocinio, the Cebu provincial fire marshal and ground commander.
The fire, which started in the home of a certain Mario Fernandez at 11:28 p.m., quickly spread and placed control only over an hour later, at 12:50 a.m.
Patrocinio said they were still determining what caused the fire since the house of Fernandez had no electricity.
Only Gestoni Fernandez, the nephew of the house owner, was at home when the fire broke out, Patrocinio said.
Patrocinio added that since the destroyed houses were mostly made of light materials, the damage was initially placed at P2 million.
Sawang Calero Barangay Captain Ariel Yburan called the barangay council at dawn today for an emergency meeting to declare a state of calamity in the barangay.
The declaration will enable the barangay to use its calamity fund to assist the fire victims, now housed in barangay shelters.
Among those rescued were 42 children housed at the nearby compound of the Missionaries of the Poor, a Catholic religious order.