House renews call for permanent evac centers

A day after Supertyphoon “Karding” (international name: Noru) slammed into Luzon, Makabayan lawmakers have pushed anew for the establishment of permanent evacuation centers in every town and city in the country.

On Monday, the three-member bloc filed House Bill (HB) No. 5152, which seeks to mandate that permanent evacuation centers be built in all towns and cities that are typhoon and earthquake-resilient.

In the bill’s explanatory note, the lawmakers said the “practice of using schools as evacuation centers has to stop to cushion the impact of calamities and disasters, especially on children.”

HB 5152 seeks to require that evacuation centers be designed to withstand supertyphoons with wind speeds of at least 300 kilometers per hour, and up to magnitude 8.0 earthquakes.

During the 18th Congress in March 2021, the House passed on final reading HB 8990, which pushed for the establishment of permanent evacuation centers in all towns and cities.

The Senate failed to pass its counterpart measure on third reading before the 18th Congress adjourned.

House deputy minority leader Rep. France Castro said they “refiled the third reading version to further expedite the passing of the measure.”

“We also hope that HB 5152 would be classified as urgent by Malacañang and the House leadership, because time is of the essence,” she said in a statement. INQ