Fire victims of Sto. Niño worry about housing, school

A DAY after the fire, displaced families of Sto. Niño, barangay Quiot await Cebu City Hall’s provision of materials so they could rebuild what remained of their homes.

Most families remain sheltered in an open area near the house of barangay captain Vicente Ramos Jr.

They preferred to stay there rather than move to the barangay gym which is far from the fire scene.

While they still need food and water, about 100 pupils are worried over how to attend school tomorrow with all of their uniforms and books eaten by last Friday’s fire.

Marlin, a Grade Three pupil said she was unable to save her uniform and school materials since she was kept busy saving her younger siblings.

“I will still attend class, I would just look for what I can wear,” she told Cebu Daily News.

She said Mildred, a Grade Two pupil she knew, managed to save her bag filled with books and school stuff but didn’t recover her uniform in time.

“Akong uniform naapil oagka sunog (My uniforms were eaten by the fire),” Mildred said.

Based on records by attending social workers, at least 88 houses were gutted down and five houses were partially damaged, displacing 120 families or about 508 persons.

Ramos said the barangay declared a state of calamity in the area which allowed them to release P119,000 to help the victims.

He said Sto. Niño is the biggest sitio in barangay Quiot.

Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) chief Ester Concha said she’s hoping they could distribute the housing materials within this week along with the P10,00 cash assistance for each affected family. Correspondent Chito Aragon