TACLOBAN CITY, Sept. 15 (PNA) –- A non-government organization (NGO) will build PHP113.4 million permanent houses in the city’s northern village for families living in temporary shelters.
Operations Blessings (OB) Philippines will build 324 permanent shelters in Palanog village, tagged as the city’s safe zone.
The NGO broke the ground for the Community of Hope (COH)-Palanog community centers and market.
The new community consists of a health station, day care room, administration office, youth activity and recreational area, and the livelihood training area.
The two adjoining centers will be used alternatively as evacuation center during calamities.
According to Kim Pascual, the NGO’s executive vice president and chief operating officer said the new houses can withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake and resistant to typhoons with up to 250 kilometers per hour, incorporating the bamboo cement technology of Hilti Foundation (Base Bahay).
The construction of first 20 houses is now ongoing. Some portion of the new community is devoted to parks for children and elderly, transport terminal, and a farm.
A deep well will also be constructed to address safe water needs of families in the area.
“We hope this will help the families go back to leading fruitful lives even after the tragedy of super typhoon Yolanda,” Pascual said.
“They have proven their resiliency, and so this project hopes to match their strength, both in its physical and organizational structure.”
The city government here expressed gratitude to the OB staff for helping improve the lives of severely hit families.
The Community of Hope-Palanog is the first permanent shelter project of Operation Blessing.
OB was able to build a temporary and transitional shelter communities, drilled wells, repair classrooms and schools and provided livelihood projects to those affected families throughout the Yolanda-affected areas both in Samar and Leyte. (PNA)
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