Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama yesterday led the opening of Tent City for typhoon evacuees, saying the city and Red Cross were “opening a place of love, a place of caring, a place of serving.”
By Monday, December 23, the remaining 38 families staying at the Tinago barangay gym will be taken there except for those who have scheduled trips back to hometowns in Leyte and were allowed to stay longer in the gym.
While many said they worried about the heat of the open field and enclosed tents, and the distance from jeepney routes, a number visited the site in the South Road Properties (SRP), ready to give it a try.
“Init kaayo murag deserto,” said 51-year-old Marcial Cagabhion. (It’s so hot it’s like a desert.)
Federico Tabay, a survivor from Tanauan, Leyte, who came with his two todder sons, isn’t complaining.
“Okay ra man kapuy-an diri, bisan ug init, at least maka antos ra man. Ka antos man gani ta’s bagyo.” (It’s all right to stay here even if it’s hot. We can cope. We’ve managed to survive the typhoon.)
Of 60 tents mounted in rows, one is a makeshift office while another is used as a clinic.
Each tent has two sections, a solar-powered lamp and six zipper-openings. Each tent can accommodate up to 10 people.
Pillows and mattresses will be provided said SRP Manager Roberto Varquez.
The 1.3 hectare camp site, officially called the SRP Family Rebuilding Center, opened with a Mass and blessing rites.
Behind the tent clusters are eight bathroom cubicles.
Water supply won’t be a problem with three tanks that can store up to 1,000 liters each and two bigger tanks for 4,000 liters.
Cooking can be done in a roofed, six-meter vacant space.
Mayor Rama, Councilor Dave Tumulak and DSWS Head Ester Concha led the opening rites.
At about 7 a.m., an initial 20 families of evacuees in barangay Tinago gym boarded a Kaohsiung bus to attend the opening activity.
Marichu Guevarra, 47, said she was thankful for the venue but worried about the heat’s effect on her grandson, a toddler.
“Di man sab ko ganahan mo reklamo no, pero init lang gyud, unya ang bata ba.” (I don’t want to complain, but I’m worried about the child.)
Samuel Baquilod, 53, from Leyte, also noted the mud under the tents.
He said he was seriously thinking of just using his pension to rent a room in the city for his wife and three children.
Baquilod is waiting for test result for a cyst in his left arm. The report from the Vicente Sotto Medical Center will be released on Jan. 7, 2014 yet.
Window flaps in the tent can be opened.
SRP Manager Varquez who entered one tent noted that it was made of synthetic material suitable for summer.
To address the distance from public transport, a multicab will shuttle between SRP and City Hall at regular intervals from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., said Jocelyng Pesquera, head of the Tent City committee.
Meals will be served by the city government and private sponsors.
To keep the evacuees busy, “skills training sesisons” will be offered by private sponsor groups for construction, plumbing, carpentry, welding and masonry, said officials. Lessons in cooking, bead works and massage will also be given.
Policemen will guard the site and visitors have to log in for secuirty. Red Cross personnel are on call 24/7 to extend assistance.There were concerns and complaints, but in the end, evacuees have little choice.
Asked how long he thinks evacuees should stay in the Tent City, Mayor Rama said that was the wrong perspective.
“The question shouldn’t be how long can they stay here but how soon can we bring them back (to their homes)?” He said that as long as the evacuees “cooperate” and respond well, things will get better. /Bjorn Abraham Tabanera, Correspondent