Red Cross turns over completed shelter in Cebu’s Bantayan Island

• Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=1&rid=881542
• Monday, May 2, 2016

(PNA), SCS/PR/EBP

MANILA, May 2 (PNA) -- More than 1,900 completed shelters made for typhoon "Yolanda" (Haiyan)-affected families in Bantayan Island in Cebu were formally turned over to the beneficiaries by the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) on Sunday, May 1.

The shelter project in Bantayan Island, particularly in the municipalities of Madridejos and Bantayan, were done by the PRC in partnership with German Red Cross and was done under PRC’s Typhoon Haiyan Recovery Program. More than 500 houses are still to be built in Bantayan Island for those who lost their homes to typhoon Yolanda in November 2013.

“Bantayan Island was one of the worst-hit islands in the province of Cebu when typhoon Yolanda came. The typhoon left the island completely isolated in its wake, left several dead and thousands homeless,” said Richard Gordon, chairman of the PRC.

Typhoon Yolanda made its fourth landfall in Bantayan Island in Cebu, which left around 30 percent of the island’s residents completely without homes, while 90 percent of the houses that were left standing had the roofs torn off.

“With this housing project for the residents of Bantayan Island, the PRC and German Red Cross were able to provide not just a place to live for the families that have been affected by typhoon Yolanda, but more importantly, we were able to give them back their dignity and helped them start anew after their horrifying ordeal,” Gordon added.

For the whole province of Cebu, PRC in partnership with other national societies in the Red Cross Movement and some private donors, have already built a total of 7,772 houses as of April 22, 2016. More than 600 houses are still to be built to complete the target number of houses for identified shelter beneficiaries in the province.

As of date, a total of 73,361 houses have already been built by the Red Cross and partners in nine provinces that have been severely affected by typhoon Yolanda. The nine provinces are: Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Cebu, Iloilo, Leyte, Palawan, Eastern Samar, and Western Samar.

Aside from shelter, PRC’s Typhoon Haiyan Recovery Program also supported 8,354 households in Cebu with livelihood assistance, rehabilitated and reconstructed five health facilities, and rehabilitated and constructed water and sanitation facilities in seven schools in the province.

During the emergency phase of the disaster, 16,293 families in Cebu received food items, while 39,726 families received non-food items from the PRC such as plastic mats, blankets, mosquito nets, jerry cans, tarpaulins, tents, kitchen sets, hygiene kits, and shelter repair kits.

Around Php5 million emergency cash relief assistance were also given to the affected individuals and families in the province of Cebu in the aftermath of the typhoon.