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Sunday, May 18, 2008
Cebu City offers help to landslide evacuees
CEBU CITY -- Most children staying at the Sudlon I sports complex after their evacuation from neighboring Sitio Nangka, Barangay Sinsin "were already sick even before they were transferred."
Cebu City action officer and Councilor Gerardo Carillo said this after it was reported that some of the families got sick.
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But seeing the need for better shelter, the City on Saturday placed tarpaulins as improvised walls to protect the evacuees from the cold, and plywoods to shield them from the chilling cement floor.
"The children were already sick even before they left their homes. But there are three who suffered loose bowel movement and got infected with impetigo at the sports complex," he said.
Those children who were sick before their evacuation last Tuesday suffered the same symptoms, Carillo said.
On Saturday, the City Government sent a medical team to the sports complex to check on the people.
Carillo said Cebu City Health Department (CHD) doctors told him that the three children got sick probably due to the stress in the change of environment.
The medical team, comprised by CHD Head Fe Cabugao and two doctors, gave medications to the children.
A dental mission will be sent this Monday, when a district doctor will start his daily visit on the evacuees.
The barangay health committee will also bring the children to the hospital if their health conditions worsen.
Continuing rains prompted the Cebu City Government Tuesday to evacuate 20 families living within the two-hectare radius of the landslide area in Sinsin.
They represent around half of the number of families affected by soil movement in the remote area in the mountain barangay.
70 families
Policemen, Philippine Marine soldiers, barangay tanods and officials helped in bringing them to the Sudlon I sports complex, which is nearer compared to that of Sinsin.
There were a total of 70 families at the sports complex, however, as there were others from nearby sitios who were evacuated due to the fear of landslide.
Last Friday, a Red Cross team went to the sports complex to hand out relief goods.
On Saturday morning, opposition leader and sports patron Jonathan Guardo visited the evacuees and donated rice, noodles, and canned goods in a white pail to each family.
Guardo, who lost to incumbent Representative Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City south), is running again in the 2010 elections.
Carillo said the City Government handed each family relief goods -- five kilos of rice, canned goods, and noodles.
"The donation of relief goods...is every five days," he said.
He also announced that City Hall will provide livelihood so the evacuees will have a source of income.
On the relocation site for the dislocated families, he said the City and the barangay have identified at least four lots, including that owned by former city councilor Procopio Fernandez.
Financial aid
The City Council last Wednesday set aside P205,000 for the financial assistance of P5,000 to each of 41 affected families.
The amount, Carillo said, will be used to purchase construction materials for the people to rebuild their homes.
The families were evacuated after the Mines and Geosciences Bureau warned the City of the danger of rainwater saturating the soil and causing further landslides.
On Saturday, rain also caused a cave-in in Sitio Nangka, Barangay Camputhaw.
Pedro Ronato and his son Jonas were awakened by a loud bang from their living room at 1 a.m.
They rushed to see what it was, and found that their concrete wall has collapsed.
They believe that incessant rains made the soil that a neighbor stacked at the back of their house to collapse and cover their entire living room.
No one was injured during the incident.
Damaged items
Ronato said that among the properties destroyed were a refrigerator, a television set and its stand, a digital VCD player, an amplifier, and a table.
The Ronatos still have to check what items were damaged in the kitchen.
Ronato said it was their neighbor, Angie Saldua, an urban poor organization member claiming a portion of the lot, who piled the soil to the level of their house.
Saldua, though, declined to comment on what happened, saying that only her association will do so.
Ronato, who has lived in Camputhaw since the 1980s, said he was not a member of any homeowners' association, but he pays his rent directly to lot owner Antonio Mercado.
He said it was fortunate that he slept in their room that night because it was raining; else, he would have been buried alive.
He usually slept in the living room, when the weather is warm. (Deby Marianae Gilos, Queenie Barrera/CNU Communication Interns/Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. (May 18, 2008 issue)
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