Cebu prepares for continued exodus from storm areas

Cebu province would continue to be a hub for evacuees from Eastern Visayas who are fleeing their disaster-stricken areas.

Grace Yana of the Central Visayas office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)  said officials continued to inspect sports centers and other available spaces in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu that could serve as evacuation centers.

Evacuees from areas destroyed by the storm have to be given shelters to prevent them from begging on the streets, Yana said.

But evacuees who would be given shelters in Cebu have to abide by what another DSWD official, Nemia Antipala, acting assistant director for operations, said were house rules.

Antipala said evacuees in shelters would not be allowed to leave without permission from shelter officials.

As of Nov. 20, 7,279 individuals from Eastern Visayas have arrived in Cebu aboard military C-130 planes and Navy ships.

Yana said 1,182 individuals were staying in DSWD evacuation centers while others opted to stay with relatives in Cebu or proceeded to other parts of the country.

Cebu City has given shelter to 671 evacuees; Lapu-Lapu City, 483, and Mandaue City, 28.

“We need more and bigger evacuation sites because, according to the Navy, more evacuees are still coming,” Yana said.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said he did not view the exodus of storm survivors to the city as a problem.

“You cannot be driving them out. Who would help them if we won’t?”  Rama said.

Yana said social workers were also checking if residents of Cebu who would take in evacuees that are either relatives or friends were capable of meeting the evacuees’ needs.

Evacuees who would be accommodated in DSWD shelters, according to Yana, would go through stress debriefing sessions.

Evacuees, said Yana, were also assigned chores in DSWD shelters to keep them preoccupied and help them get over the trauma that they suffered when Supertyphoon “Yolanda” struck.

Yana said reporters were banned from entering the shelters in the meantime.

Interviews with the evacuees, said Yana, are allowed upon the evacuees’ arrival at  Benito Ebuen Air Base or at the naval office both in Lapu Lapu City.

“We have been lambasted by the media and we apologize for the misunderstanding,” said Antipala.

“Please give us enough time to complete their documentation and processing,” Antipala told reporters in a press conference held at the regional DSWD office in Cebu City on Tuesday.

Antipala said that while they recognize the role of media, especially in connecting the typhoon victims with their relatives who are  in other parts of the country and abroad, there are also rules that  have to be followed.

“We do not want also to intrude so much on their privacy,” said Antipala referring to a picture of sleeping evacuees that saw print in a newspaper.

Antipala assured reporters that they would be allowed to talk to some of the evacuees and document their stay in Cebu provided they first coordinate with shelter officials.