EDITORIAL - Waiting for permanent evacuation centers

According to the mayor of Muntinlupa, a troubled teen with family issues was the person who destroyed the blackboards in two classrooms in a school that served as an evacuation center when Severe Tropical Storm Paeng hit the country last week. The boy will undergo counseling and will not be penalized for vandalizing public property, Mayor Ruffy Biazon said.

But the mayor also reminded his constituents that such acts of vandalism could only reinforce the opposition of education officials to the continuing use of public schools as evacuation centers. The Department of Education has long urged the national and local governments to set up permanent evacuation centers. Formal education cannot be disrupted each time disaster strikes, considering the numerous natural calamities that hit the country regularly – typhoons, floods, earthquakes and, in some areas, volcanic eruptions.

Biazon said the city government is ramping up efforts to develop a permanent evacuation site. Other local government units should do the same. With full face-to-face education resuming this month after two years of COVID lockdowns, many schools are grappling with an acute lack of classrooms. Paeng compounded the problem, with over 200 schools damaged in several provinces.

After every major natural disaster, there is always talk of building permanent evacuation centers. But over the years, the only improvement in the typical evacuation center – usually a school gym – is the provision of tents that allow families some privacy and a bit more comfort while sleeping on the ground.

In such temporary shelters, the basic accommodation requirements remain inadequate, from safe water to toilet and bath facilities as well as telecommunications connectivity and proper ventilation in enclosed structures. It’s still common for diseases to spread rapidly in crowded evacuation centers, with infants and the elderly among the most vulnerable.

The sorry state of the country’s evacuation centers is one of the reasons why many people are reluctant to leave their homes for safer ground even when there are strong warnings about approaching disaster. This is on top of concerns about the safety of personal property when houses are abandoned in an emergency.

Local government units now have a much larger share of the national revenues. These additional resources can be used to build permanent evacuation centers with decent facilities for the LGUs’ own constituents. There are detailed geohazard maps identifying the safe spots where such permanent structures can be built. A basic requirement of disaster preparedness is the provision of a decent evacuation center.