A TOTAL of 103 families, mostly evacuees, were displaced anew by a fire incident on Thursday, July 26, in Zamboanga City.
Superintendent Jhufel Brañanola, Zamboanga City Fire District (ZCFD) marshal, said the fire broke out around 4:35 p.m. Thursday, and razed more than 100 houses, including at least 60 units of transitory shelters, occupied by the evacuees at the Valle Vista Phase 1 in Kasanyangan village.
Transitory shelters are bunkhouses built for the families displaced by the September 2013 Zamboanga siege.
Brañanola said there was no reported casualty during the fire, which started from the unit of a certain Jing.
He placed the estimated worth of damaged property to P500,000. The fire lasted for an hour.
Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said food packs and drinking water were immediately provided to the displaced families, who were temporarily housed at the covered court of the Don Gregorio Evangelista Memorial School in the village of Sta. Catalina.
On Friday, July 27, the City Social Welfare and Development Office headed by Ma. Socorro Rojas has distributed kitchen utensils, mosquito nets and others to the fire victims.
The City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office has set up portable toilets for the victims of the fire incident.
Rojas said they are conducting assessment to determine the financial assistance that will be given to the displaced families.
The city government provides P5,000 cash aid to each house-owner fire victim and P3,000 to each house renters. (Bong Garcia/SunStar Philippines)