City Hall gives lot for evacuation center

THE Iloilo City Government will be donating a portion of its property to Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) for the latter’s depot and Regional Evacuation Center (REC).

Mayor Jerry P. Treñas met with Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana in a recent forum here where the former made available to OCD the 5,000 square meters lot in Barangay Tacas in Jaro district.

“We discussed the need to fast-track the construction of evacuation center. If there’s available fund, it will start by end of the year or early next year. We have to prepare for disasters,” Treñas noted.

REC establishment hopes to stop the practice of using school buildings as temporary shelters for disaster-affected families which displaces children and disrupts their schooling.

Lorenzana who also chairs the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) was here to turn over the newly-constructed REC in Brgy. Gines, Zarraga, Iloilo.

REC houses facilities such as infirmary and pharmacy, toilet and bathrooms for males, females and PWDs, laundry and drying facility with water tank, generator room and pump rooms, garbage disposal building, storage room that can be converted into a child learning space, and Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (LDRRMC) / OCD Office.

REC is in accordance with RA 10121 or the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010 which aims to strengthen the country’s disaster risk reduction and management system. (PIO)