Marikina mayor pleads for donations that will help residents rebuild houses

This is a street in Provident Village in Marikina City after the onslaught of Typhoon Ulysses. (File photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro is pleading for donations of construction materials and equipment to help city residents rebuild their houses after being damaged by flooding caused by Typhoon Ulysses.

Construction companies willing to help in rebuilding are welcome too, he added.

He said the damage caused by Ulysses was comparable to that caused by Typhoon Ondoy in 2009.

“Now that we can see the extent [of the damage], we are now requesting for housing materials for those affected and if there will be some volunteers who would like to help maybe in house rebuilding,” Teodoro said during a turn-over of donations on Tuesday.

Of 10,000 families evacuated during the typhoon, 3,880 more or less are still in evacuation centers because their houses are still submerged in mud brought by the flooding, he said.

Still others saw their houses, which were made of light materials, swept away by the floods.

“They have no more houses to return to,” Teodoro said in Filipino.

The eyewall of Ulysses directly hit Metro Manila as it moved through Central Luzon, sending strong rains and winds to Marikina and nearby towns in adjacent Rizal province.

Because previous typhoons brought sustained rainfall in mountainous areas in Rizal — like Antipolo, Tanay, and Baras — the water that came down to Marikina was larger than expected, with the level of Marikina River rising up to 22 meters.

This was higher than the 21.5 meters that it reached during the rainfall brought by Ondoy.

Marikina has been one of the most hard-hit areas with its government quickly conceding that it would need the help of the national government.

The city was put under a state of calamity last Friday and classes were suspended for a month starting Monday.

Aside from the donations, Teodoro has also asked companies to employ those who had been affected by the recent flooding, as they would need jobs to recover.

The emergency jobs provided by the Department of Labor and Employment and the Department of Social Welfare and Development were only good for 10 days, he noted.

He added that the city government was willing to conduct skills training and retooling for those who would be tapped for employment.

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