INQUIRER FILES / PAGASA
ILOILO CITY — At least 79 classrooms in Western Visayas suffered varying levels of destruction due to heavy rains and strong winds brought by Tropical Storm Kristine (international name: Trami).
Preliminary reports from the Department of Education in Western Visayas (DepEd-6), show that 59 classrooms were damaged, five faced major structural issues, and 15 were destroyed.
Despite the substantial damage, Hernani Escullar Jr., DepEd-6’s regional information officer, said classes remained unaffected with school heads arranging alternative spaces to keep students’ learning on track.
“The school head can make necessary adjustments to ensure learning continuity,” he said.
The distribution of damaged classrooms shows a heavy toll on several key areas:
Classrooms with minor issues were managed at the school level, with maintenance funds covering repairs as available.
However, classrooms that faced extensive damage were awaiting funds from the DepEd central office to start major repairs or rebuilds.
The storm damage only underscores an existing classroom deficit in the region.
The latest National School Building Inventory shows that Western Visayas has 62,263 instructional classrooms, but only 8,220 are in good condition.
The need for additional classrooms remains critical, with Negros Occidental and Iloilo province alone requiring 7,837 and 1,600 new classrooms, respectively.
The demand for more classrooms stemmed from growing student populations, especially in Negros Occidental and Iloilo, which top the region’s list for additional facilities.
Meanwhile, Kristine caused P5,503,163 in damages to rice and fisheries in Negros Occidental, according to the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist.
Damage to rice was P3,221,433 and P2,281,730 to fisheries as of Oct. 23.
The damage to rice affected 206 farmers tilling 152.82 hectares of rice land in 10 local governments in Negros Occidental.
The damage to fisheries affected 139 fisherfolk in seven localities.
The flooding and strong winds also destroyed 96 houses and damaged 2,898 in Negros Occidental, and affected 23,600 families with 90,937 members./with reports from Carla Gomez, Inquirer Visayas