BAUKO, Mountain Province – Mayor Abraham B. Akilit announced that the local government will play host to the establishment of a multi-million regional evacuation center to cater to the needs of evacuees during the onslaught of natural and man-made calamities not only in the upland municipality but also those coming from nearby localities.
Akilit revealed that the local government provided for a 1,000-square meter lot located in Poblacion as its counterpart for the release of the P36 million budget for the construction of the regional evacuation center from the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) which was coursed through the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) as the implementing agency for the noble project.
“We are keeping our fingers crossed that the construction of the regional evacuation center in our municipality will start the soonest because technical personnel of the concerned government agencies already started visiting the area where the structure will be erected. We would like to assure that the evacuation center will be open for the needs of evacuees not only from our locality but also from other neighboring towns and provinces,” Mayor Akilit stressed.
Earlier, Akilit offered to OCD-CAR officials that the local government is willing to donate the corresponding land area required by the agency for the establishment of the regional evacuation center after some local governments were not able to provide the required counterpart.
OCD-CAR public information officer Frances Ivy Carasi explained that the standard lot size being required by their central office for the put up of a regional evacuation center is at least 3,000 square meters so that it will be able to accommodate a 2-storey structure, a power house, warehouse, comfort rooms and bathrooms and other amenities to cater to the needs of evacuees and serve as storage area for relief goods.
However, she added that the agency was able to work out that there should be adjustments in the land requirement when it comes to the Cordillera because of the limited land area, thus, the 1,000 square meters donated by the Bauko local government will be sufficient considering that the structure was re-designed to be a 4-storey structure that will be built over an 800-square meter portion of the donated government property.
Akilit expressed confidence that the implementation of the project will be done the soonest so that it will be completed right in time so that it will serve its purposes in cases of the onslaught of natural and man-made calamities which could strike anytime.
Aside from being a regional evacuation center, the structure that will be built could also serve as the disaster operation center of the municipal disaster risk reduction and management council (MDRRMC) and a satellite office of the OCD-CAR which is the lead agency in terms of the implementation of disaster risk reduction and climate change mitigation and adaptation programs and projects.
Mayor Akilit expressed his gratitude to the OCD-CAR and those who extended the needed assistance to facilitate the release of the funds for the smooth implementation of the noble project in the locality which will serve as a regional evacuation center that will be open to everyone.
By HENT
