Extending hospitality

It has been 11 days since the catastrophe that was supertyphoon “Yolanda” and while there have been small, encouraging signs of recovery in northern Cebu, Tacloban City and other parts of Eastern Visayas, the exodus of evacuees from the typhoon-hit areas continues unabated.

Hence, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama’s call for Metro Cebu local government units (LGUs) to sit down and offer their areas to accommodate the survivors doesn’t only make sense but is critical if Cebu City wishes to avoid further congestion of its already limited living space.

For now Cebu City has more than 1,000 evacuees housed in different barangay halls and gyms. In barangay Tinago, the number of evacuees swelled to more than 100 and barangay chairman Joel Garganera said they could only make room for 300 to avoid crowding them in quarters like so much cattle.

The cost of accommodating the evacuees would surely place a strain on barangay Tinago’s resources and by extension, the Cebu city government. Yet Rama said the city is prepared for that eventuality and even told department heads in their meeting that he expects the number of evacuees to swell to 10,000.

He also agreed to a proposal by the Philippine Red Cross to allocate a small portion of the South Road Properties for a tent city that could accommodate 10,000 of these evacuees though that remains to be seen.

Which is why it is high time that other Metro Cebu LGUs do their share in housing these evacuees and extend whatever help they can.

Mandaue City, which was initially perceived as being slow to accommodate the evacuees, had prepared a barangay hall to house some of them while a Mandaue-based company prepared to house the families of their workers based in typhoon-hit Tacloban City.

Lapu-Lapu City offered to host 1,000 evacuees and the Cebu provincial government deployed trucks filled with relief goods and personnel to the northern Cebu towns. So everything is being done by both government and the private sector to help both Cebuanos and other typhoon survivors.

Still, the problem of housing these evacuees for a projected six months or longer should be addressed this early by the Metro Cebu LGUs so that services and programs to their constituents who weren’t affected by the typhoon would still be sustained despite the admittedly added strain to their resources brought by the necessity of supporting the daily needs of the evacuees.

It would take time for power to be fully restored in Leyte province, the Department of Energy said. While water supply and some ATM outlets have become operational, the survivors aren’t returning to the affected areas any time soon. It’s best for Metro Cebu LGUs to plan now how to house their guests without sacrificing services to their constituents, who are also giving their share in helping the survivors.