BACOLOD City – One of the nine major evacuation centers being built across Western Visayas had been unveiled in Bago City, Negros Occidental.
The P36-million, two-story structure stood on a 5,000-square meter lot in Barangay Lag-asan.
The Department of Public Works and Highways and the Office of Civil Defense turned over the facility to the local government under Mayor Nicholas Yulo.
President Rodrigo Duterte wanted the establishment of such evacuation centers, said Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad, OCD administrator.
“We will continue to do it. In 2019 we will seek a new design for the evacuation centers,” added the concurrent executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
The DPWH, the OCD and the local government of Bago City had signed a memorandum of agreement on the operation of the facility.
The evacuation center will primarily cater to the locals but evacuees from neighboring localities may use it as well, Jalad said at the Friday turnover.
Other evacuation centers will be built soon, said OCD regional director Jose Roberto Nuñez.
“Yes, this was the first in Region 6,” Nuñez said of the Bago City facility. “We have nine but the others were still incomplete. Maybe the second, in Antique, will be completed by the first quarter of 2019.”
All nine evacuation centers have a total contract cost of P310.301 million, according to the DPWH Region 6.
In Negros Occidental two others will rise in San Carlos City and Sagay City.
Aside from the one in San Jose, Antique, similar facilities were also being built in Kalibo, Aklan; Roxas City, Capiz; Nueva Valencia, Guimaras; and Carles and Zarraga in Iloilo.
These evacuation centers can accommodate at least 33 families, or 130 individuals.
They will also have an infirmary building for the sick and injured evacuees and a pharmacy for quick medical response during calamities.
Each center will have toilets and bathrooms for males, females and persons with disabilities, a generator room for emergency cases, a pump room, a laundry area, a water tank, cistern tank, and a materials recovery facility.
In addition, the facilities will provide office spaces for personnel of the local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office and the OCD. (With Philippine News Agency/PN)
