Bohol quake survivors feel ‘safer’ in bunkhouses

A TOTAL of 20 bunkhouses are being built by the Department of Public Works and Highways for quake survivors in Bohol province. The department is targeting a total of 100 bunkhouses. CARMEL MATUS/INQUIRER VISAYAS

LOON, Bohol—It does not feel like home, but the bunkhouse here where 77-year-old Solano Dospueblos moved into makes her feel safer. “I could now sleep soundly,” she told the Inquirer.

Dospueblos is among 100 families in Barangay (village)Napo here who were advised by the municipal government to leave their homes and stay in two bunkhouses near the town’s public cemetery, about a kilometer from the main highway.

The evacuation followed an advisory by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) central office that the presence of “tension cracks” in the area put the lives of residents there at risk.

According to Geo-Slope International, a tension crack “may develop in a slope when the inclination angle of the slip surface is steep and when the sliding mass is sitting on a weak foundation material.”

“After the earthquake, when it rains or there is strong wind, I feel scared,” Dospueblos said. The temblor damaged her two-story home in Napo.

While she felt bad leaving her home, she said she had to consider the safety of her youngest daughter, Cynthia, 37, who would look after her. The two are occupying a unit of the two 20-unit bunkhouses serving as temporary shelters for survivors.

At present, 20 families, mostly indigent, are staying there, said Ma. Vilma Palacio, a social worker.

A bunkhouse is 8.8 meters wide and  24 m long, and is made of plywood, corrugated sheets and coconut lumber.

The project to build the bunkhouses and service facilities was funded by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) and implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Apart from the bunkhouses, the occupants have access to eight toilets, four washing areas and 20 cooking areas.

Ten bunkhouses are being built in Barangay Cogon Norte, also in Loon town. Eight of the structures have yet to be finished.

Ten more are being built in the villages of Guiwanon and Ubujan in Tubigon town.

As of Feb. 21, actual accomplishment rate for the two projects is 68 percent. The Loon project is about 80 percent completed, and Tubigon, about 40 percent.

Funding for the project was received on Jan. 29 from the PPA.