Fire victims start to build shanties at the CICC grounds. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
SOME families displaced by the huge March 12 fire in Mandaue City have started setting up makeshift dwellings at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) grounds, transforming the parking and green spaces into a shanty town.
With his family’s P3,000 savings, 57-year-old Alan Remedio purchased construction materials and built a shanty to protect his family from the searing heat of the sun.
“Grabe na ang kainit. Di na ma-agwanta labaw na sa akong pares nga high blood to. Taga adlaw gud to pa check up (We can no longer endure the heat, especially my wife who has hypertension. She goes to the makeshift clinic everyday to have her blood pressure checked),” Remedio said.
He said his family didn’t get a tent nor a “tarima,” a low wooden platform, from the Mandaue City government.
A total of 2,362 families who lost their homes in a massive fire that hit Barangays Mantuyong and Guizo have been allowed to stay at the CICC grounds while the city government re-blocks the 9.2-hectare fire site.
They have not been allowed inside the structure, which cost P840 million to build, because it has been declared structurally unsafe after the October 2013 earthquake.
Not all received a tent, said Mandaue City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (MCDRRMO) head Felix Suico. He said they also had to attend to the fire victims in Barangay Basak.
Re-blocking and development of the fire site could take three months, said Mandaue City public information officer Roger Paller.
He said the Housing and Urban Development Office (HUDO) started only last Monday the demarcation of the fire site, a portion of which is privately owned. A large portion has been donated by the city government for a housing program.
HUDO has proposed a budget of P8.5 million for the development of the fire site.
Paller, spokesman of the Command Center at the CICC, said those who occupied the privately owned lot will still get financial assistance from the city government.
Whether they can rebuild in the same area is still being discussed.
The lack of proper shelter at the CICC grounds has made the fire victims vulnerable to illnesses.
Since Saturday, nursing attendant Dhalia Abordo from the Cebu Provincial Health Office (CPHO) said about 100 fire victims go to the makeshift clinic everyday for consultation. A lot complained of cough and colds.
Abordo assured they have enough medicines for the fire victims.