It’s a double whammy for quake-hit Bogo City in Cebu

CLEARING, SHELTERING Personnel of Bogo City in Cebu on Tuesday start the massive cleanup, removing fallen trees that block the roads, in the aftermath of Typhoon “Tino” (international name: Kalmaegi). Evacuated residents remain in individualized tents set up at the city’s gymnasium for those displaced by the Sept. 30 earthquake. They have been living in “tent cities” but have to be placed in safer areas on Monday as these had to be dismantled to wait out the passage of Tino. —CITY GOVERNMENT OF BOGO FACEBOOK PHOTOS

Families in northern Cebu province who lost their homes during the Sept. 30 earthquake were displaced yet again after Typhoon “Tino” (international name: Kalmaegi) demolished the Visayas.

Bogo City, the epicenter of the deadly magnitude 6.9 quake, was largely spared by Tino’s wrath, reporting no landslide or flooding unlike what happened in Cebu City and its neighboring areas in Metro Cebu, about 100 kilometers from Bogo.

But communication and power were still unavailable and hundreds displaced by the earthquake previously housed in tents remained housed in sturdier shelters, according to the Bogo city government in a Facebook post at 5 p.m.

The city government said 1,070 families composed of 3,801 people were in evacuation centers since Monday, most of whom were victims of the earthquake and previously housed in tents.

The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) led the evacuation of residents housed at the Tent City in Barangay Cogon, while those in other tent communities were assisted by barangay disaster risk reduction and management offices, Mayor Maria Cielo Martinez said on Monday.

Martinez has also suspended classes and work in government offices in the city from Monday to Tuesday.

On Tuesday, massive cleanup to clear roads of fallen trees was started in the aftermath of the typhoon.

At a briefing in Malacañang on Tuesday, Office of Civil Defense spokesperson Junie Castillo said that because of the typhoon, the displaced families staying in tent cities needed to be relocated to modular houses or other evacuation centers.

Temporary setup

The tents were “temporarily dismantled,” as these could not withstand the strong winds brought by the typhoon.

The national government, assisted by (PRC), built a tent city at Barangay Cogon in Bogo City. Modular shelter units were set up in Bogo,and the towns of Daanbantayan and San Remigio “to provide safer and more dignified temporary housing for displaced families.”

The relocated families were provided with food and other essentials, Castillo said.