After a little over ten months since the Magnitude 6.9 earthquake rocked many parts of the Visayas and Mindanao on February 6, the province of Negros Oriental is still reeling from the unprecedented massive devastation that claimed the lives of 58 people, and injured 308 others.

It also  displaced 44,360 families, left 63 others missing that are presumed dead, and damaged hundreds of billions of pesos in government and private infrastructure, agriculture, and non-government and private properties.

Rehabilitation efforts continue until now, but at a perceived crawling pace despite efforts of government agencies, non-government organizations, the private sector and external donor agencies, for a number of reasons.

Finances, logistics and manpower to rebuild the lives of the displaced and re-construct damaged properties are key areas that need to be addressed, even with the overflowing of donations in cash and in kind by government and other aid agencies, local or international, according to the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council of Negros Oriental, chaired by Gov. Roel Degamo.

Pledges in various forms of assistance may have been made, but as the year is about to end, many of these remain as promises that have yet to be fulfilled.

Now, barely a year after, almost all evacuation centers have been emptied but many of the earthquake victims continue to live in makeshift homes and tents, awaiting promises from government for free housing. Until today, the NHA and the DSWD have yet to provide core shelter housing for the affected families.

In fact, reports said, the PDRRMC has allocated P1-million for the construction of temporary shelters made of modular materials for a number of families in the landslide-hit village of Solonggon in La Libertad.

Despite the overflowing donations in cash, kind, and services offered by many, there is still much work to be done for the province, and especially the worst hit areas, to fully recover.

Latest available records at the PDRRMC show that the cost of assistance handed out to Negros Oriental for relief and rehabilitation total P62,101,333.33.

The DSWD alone had shelled out P26,278,132.33; local government units P11,725,781.55; NGOs and other GOs, P24,097,419.45.

The provincial government, through the PDRRMC, has allocated P20-million from its Quick Response Fund while P7-million from external donors, in cash and in kind, for the repair of damaged infrastructure and relief operations.

So far, under Degamo, Capitol has earmarked P2,651,164 million for the repair and maintenance of provincial roads damaged by the earthquake, and for the removal of ruined structures and other obstructions.

Another P2-million in provincial government funds were calendared for the rehabilitation of the hospital building of the William Villegas Memorial Hospital (district hospital) in Guihulngan, with the project ongoing as of today.

Additional allocations were P2.4 million for the installation of shallow wells, P1.6 million for food commodities, P480,000 for portalets and P7-million for other goods.

To address these problems,  the provincial government through the PDRRMC has submitted a request to the national government, through the Regional Development Council of Region 7 which approved it favorably and endorsed to the National Economic Development Authority, for a P1.2 billion funding allocation for Negros Oriental’s earthquake strategic action.

The amount shall be used for the rehabilitation of infrastructure, roads, bridges, and buildings like the Hall of Justice that had been damaged by the “killer earthquake”.*JFP

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