Families made homeless by ‘Rolly’ to be relocated

Families whose houses were totally destroyed by super Typhoon “Rolly” will be moved to vacant houses in the existing relocation sites across Albay, or will be given new houses in the in lots that will be identified by the concerned local government units (LGUs), the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (Apsemo) said.

Some 2,615 families or 10,092 persons are still staying in the evacuation centers for two weeks already after their houses were either uprooted, flattened to the ground, or buried in lahar debris when super Typhoon “Rolly” battered Albay and other Bicol provinces on All Saints’ Day.

Apsemo had recorded 23,126 totally damaged houses and 96,919 partially damaged houses across Albay.

Cedric Daep, Apsemo chief, said that they are now starting to identify housing units inside the different relocation sites in Albay that are already vacated by their former occupants who migrated in some other places outside the province or have decided to go back to their original residences where their sources of livelihood are located.

Daep said they are going to coordinate with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the National Housing Authority (NHA) for the needed housing units and the identification of relocation areas.

“We might request DSWD to help us in the building of these housing units for the homeless victims of Rolly,” Daep told Bicol Mail.

In Guinobatan, Albay, more than 30 houses were buried in sand and boulders when rampaging floods spawned by Rolly hit the village of San Francisco. Five people were also killed there due to lahar flow.

Daep said they would try to relocate them nearest to their original barangays before “Rolly” rendered them homeless to continue attending to their sources of income or livelihood.

“Based on our experiences, residents are refusing to be relocated if they would lose their sources of livelihood in the process,” Daep noted.

Daep recalled that dozens of families have already left their houses in the relocation sites and they went back to their original abode due to lack of livelihood opportunities elsewhere but in their home places.

Hundreds of families were moved to relocation sites already from their barangays inside the six-kilometer permanent danger zone surrounding Mayon Volcano when it erupted in 2018.