Model evacuation center opens in Tondo

A four-story evacuation center complete with kitchen and bathroom facilities was inaugurated Friday in Tondo, Manila.

The Manila Disaster Risk Reduction Building near Del Pan Sports Complex can accommodate 3,000 victims of calamities.

Sitting on a 4,000-sq-m lot, the center has centralized kitchen and laundry areas, a clinic, stockroom, a paging system room with security cameras, an office for social welfare personnel and a generator.

It is also equipped with an elevator lift for persons with disabilities, pregnant women and senior citizens.

Mayor Alfredo Lim said the site is close to disaster-prone areas, such as the Parola Compounds, Smokey Mountain, Isla Puting Bato and Happyland.

He said a bigger evacuation site was also being constructed at the  Baseco compound.

Francis Tolentino, chair of the Manila Metropolitan Development Authority, said he would show the building as a model for evacuation centers to delegates from Tokyo, Singapore, Jakarta and other cities who will be in town  in July for the Asian Disaster Conference.