Benguet capital town readies for tent city

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The slow task of recovery starts for this highland town as Mayor Artemio Galwan plans to set up a tent city at the Benguet State University here to accommodate the people rendered homeless by recent typhoon “Pepeng." According to Galwan, the BSU compound can accommodate all existing evacuees and provide portable toilets, kitchen provisions and shower areas. Galwan said a five-person family “can fit in one tent," adding that the proposed BSU tent city is one of the temporary solutions for Pepeng evacuees. The remaining evacuation centers here, many of them public schools, are still housing 342 people, down from a high figure of over 500 evacuees. Regular classes in La Trinidad will start on October 19, and “that is when the schools will need all the classrooms," Galwan said. The biggest center, the Puguis Elementary School, which housed over 500 evacuees now hold only 56 persons. The National Irrigation Administration compound holds 96, while the Church of the Nazarene houses 19, the Veterans building houses 24, the Girls Scouts of the Philippines took in 55. Garden City now has 92 evacuees, the Holy Angel Church has 29, and the Assembly of God Church has 10. Many residents affected by landslides have trickled back to their homes despite a recent government statement declaring their areas unsafe for housing. According to a GMA News report filed by Ian Cruz, residents of barangay Puguis are going back to their homes to cook, do laundry, and other activities they are unable to do in the evacuation centers.
For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV A total of 54 homes in this highland town were damaged by landslides induced by recent typhoon Pepeng, leaving 112 dead, 19 injured, and three people still missing as of latest count. The hardest-hit communities were Little Kibungan in Puguis and Buyagan, with 74 and 20 deaths respectively. – GMANews.TV