A year after 6.9-quake, northern cebu continues to rebuild

Local

A YEAR after a 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck Cebu, the road to recovery is still far from over.

Cebu Gov. Pamela Baricuatro said that from the P19-billion three-year recovery plan for northern Cebu, P750 million is the provincial government’s share, which has been utilized for various rehabilitation and recovery efforts, including repairs of damaged bridges, building temporary learning shelters (TLS), agricultural recovery, among others.

The majority of the recovery fund will be sourced from different national government agencies but only around 20% of the funding has so far been released.

“Mga 20% pa man siguro, wala pa gyud mahatag tanan,” Baricuatro told members of the media.

One of the agencies that has started its rebuilding initiatives is the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), while for others, Baricuatro said they are waiting for them to begin, like the reconstruction and repair of classrooms damaged by the quake, which will be shouldered by the Department of Education, and the damaged houses and other structures through the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development.

As for the province, aside from the payouts and financial assistance for partially and totally damaged houses and affected residents, the Capitol has started the rehabilitation and repair of bridges damaged in northern Cebu, including the bridge in Borbon connected to the town of Tabogon.

“Supposedly, it was going to be handled by DPWH, but since wala pa funding and we need to fix that kay otherwise layo pa tuyokan, so the province took care to repair the bridge. So ongoing siya,” Baricuatro said.

For agricultural recovery, a P30-million fund has been allocated and has already been utilized by the Provincial Agriculture’s Office.

As to the TLS, the Capitol allocated P269 million, and around 40% has already been completed.

It was 9:59 p.m. on Sept. 30 last year when the 6.9-magnitude quake shook northern Cebu, leaving over 70 dead, at least 500 injured, thousands without homes, and hundreds of buildings and infrastructure damaged.

On Wednesday, Sept. 30, the Capitol held a commemoration Mass to mark the first anniversary of the quake and honor those who lost their lives and were affected by the quake.(MyTVCebu)