The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) installed modular tents on Friday in Bogo City, Cebu to serve as temporary shelter for families displaced by the magnitude-6.9 earthquake earlier this week.
This developed one day after President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. ordered the establishment of a ‘tent city’ after seeing the plight of victims and survivors, who opted to stay in open spaces amid recurring anxieties over the threats of frequent aftershocks at ground zero.
“The additional modular tents from the DSWD are set up at SM Cares, one of the areas severely affected by the magnitude-6.9 earthquake,” the agency said in a Facebook status update, referring to one of the villages inspected by the president on Thursday, October 2.
The tents aim to provide safer spaces for families who lost their homes. These will also help protect them against intermittent rains, according to the agency.
The DSWD said it continues to closely coordinate with local governments and volunteers to ensure that affected residents can immediately use the tents.
“This initiative is part of the ‘whole-of-nation’ approach aimed at providing comfort and hope to families gradually recovering from the tragedy of the earthquake,” it added.
Relief operations are also ongoing across the city and other affected municipalities in Northern Cebu. The DSWD has deployed its mobile kitchens to provide hot meals for the quake victims and continues to distribute family food packs and ready-to-eat meals onsite.
The agency thanked donors from both the public and private sectors for continuously sending donations at the DSWD Visayas Disaster Resource Center in Mandaue City for the families affected by the disaster.
