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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Estrada aids Port Area fire victims

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Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada has directed the Manila Social Welfare Department to ensure that the 300 families who lost their homes in a huge fire in Port Area last Friday are cared for and their basic needs sufficiently provided for.

Estrada assured the fire victims that the city government will provide them whatever they need to rebuild their homes and start a new life.

“We know how hard it is to lose a home. We are assuring the victims that they are not alone; the city government is here to assist them by all means,” the mayor said.

Estrada immediately contacted MSWD chief Dra. Nanet Tanyag to rush to Port Area and Tondo, where another fire took place that same night of September 9, and help the victims.

A total of 1,009 individuals or more than 300 families in Barangay 654, Pier 5 in Port Area lost their homes while six suffered minor injuries, according to Tanyag.

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In Gagalangin, Tondo, about 20 families were also rendered homeless in a separate fire that broke out more than an hour before the blaze that hit the Port Area community.

“Since Friday, upon the directive of Mayor Estrada, we’ve been giving them three meals a day plus the basic necessities such as clothes, medicines, food packs, blankets,” Tanyag said.

Because the residents do not want to leave the area for fear they would be permanently evicted, they chose to put up makeshift tents on the sidewalks and covered walkways, she said.

The property is reportedly owned by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), Tanyag said.

“Also, most of them work in the harbors so they don’t want to leave,” she added.

When a tornado hit Baseco Compound and Quiapo early last month, Estrada provided P3 million worth of construction materials so residents can repair their damaged houses.

According to the Office of the City Engineer, 22 families in Quiapo had their homes damaged by a tornado while in Baseco, 292 houses sustained varying degrees of damage, including around 50 shanties razed by a huge fire that took place just a few hours after the tornado struck.

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