Chaloka Beyani
Chaloka Beyani

The box-like shanties also rob the storm survivors of their “privacy and dignity” as they struggle to rebuild their lives, he said.

Yolanda, the most powerful storm ever recorded to hit land, wiped out entire communities and left 7,350 dead or missing when it struck the impoverished central islands in November 2013.

Roughly 2,000 families remain in the bunkhouses as well as in palm-thatch temporary homes, said Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman.

The government aims to move 70 percent of the 2,000 into permanent concrete homes by year-end, she said.

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Constraints

“We are aware of the need to fast-track the permanent shelters, but there are constraints,” Soliman said.

Soliman said the lack of power and running water in some areas was due to local governments’ unpaid utility bills.

An increase in land prices also delayed the construction of permanent homes as land owners cashed in on government demand, she said.

President Benigno Aquino 3rd has budgeted 160 billion pesos ($3.6 billion) to rebuild after Yolanda, considered as one of the major tests of his six-year term that will end in June next year.

The Philippines is one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, at risk from earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and an average 20 typhoons yearly.

AFP