CALASIAO, Pangasinan -- Top officials in this town on Friday inaugurated the regional evacuation center situated in Barangay Poblacion East that can accommodate more than 500 disaster evacuees.
“This is a very timely project because for the last two months this year, we have encountered severe flooding that affected all 24 barangays of our town, affecting 1,600 families. So, we thank all the national government agencies, which made this possible,” Mayor Joseph Arman Bauzon said in his speech during the inauguration and blessing ceremony.
The evacuation center, whose main building has a floor area of 1,300.82 sq. meters, sits on a 3,757.5-sq. meter land donated by the local government unit (LGU) of Calasiao.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) provided PHP36 million for its construction, said Simplicio Gonzales, district engineer of DPWH-Pangasinan’s 3rd District Engineering Office.
Gonzales said the center consists of a two-story building with comfort rooms for male and female evacuees; a three-story building for laundry and drying; a one-story building for the office of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office and Office of the Civil Defense (OCD); and a one-story building for a generator, among others.
“It is complete with amenities and facilities. A life-saving shelter during natural calamities and disasters and a temporary shelter for evacuees,” he said.
Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad, OCD Administrator and Executive Director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, told newsmen the evacuation center here is the third in Region 1 (Ilocos).
Jalad said the other regional evacuation centers are in Bacnotan, La Union and Vigan, Ilocos Sur, while another one will soon be inaugurated in Alaminos City, Pangasinan.
“We thank the DPWH, LGU and other agencies, as well as Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology for ensuring the safety of the structure,” he added. (PNA)