They were cramped, had thin plywood walls, and two-slope roofs that could be easily torn off by strong storms. Architect and urban planner Felino Palafox Jr. yesterday shared his observations of the bunkhouses built for typhoon victims in Tacloban City, confirming international assessment these were substandard.
“I’m reminded of the saying, ‘We build monuments for the dead but we can’t even provide decent housing for the living’,” he said by phone. Palafox, who accompanied rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson in the latter’s Dec. 13 visit to the typhoon-ravaged city, said the bunkhouses had 1/4 inch plywood walls, roofs with two slopes and were cramped.
It was clear they violated the building and fire codes of the country, he said. “Would you want your family to live here?” he said, referring to yesterday’s Inquirer front-page photo of a row of bunkhouses made up of thin plywood and GI sheets. “It’s a fire hazard. There’s no privacy.
The materials are so flimsy.” Palafox said he was puzzled why bunkhouses were built with two slopes, when homes with such a design were wrecked by supertyphoon “Yolanda”’ on Nov. 8. The architect said the builders should have opted for four slopes. “Why repeat the same mistake? We’re supposed to build back better,” he said.
By this time, nearly a month after that visit, Palafox believed that Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson had fixed the temporary shelters in order to comply with international standards.
An international shelter group reported that the bunkhouses being developed by the Department of Public Works and Highways did not comply with internationally recognized standards and best practices.
The Camp Coordination and Camp Management had raised concerns, including cramped spaces, lack of ventilation, risk of fires, and safety and security of the occupants. Sen. Loren Legarda weighed in on the matter and said that if the government aimed for a resilient recovery, the structural integrity of homes, buildings and other structures “should not be compromised.”
“We need to rebuild communities with the confidence that we are not rebuilding the risks again,” said Legarda, chair of the climate change committee.
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