Dutch man complains: Relocated evacuees have no water; city official: There is water

CEBU, Philippines - No water. No electricity. Yolanda evacuees are now living "like animals" in cramped 2-meter x 3-m bunkhouse unit as temporary shelter on the hills along the Maharlika Highway, about 5 kilometers from the Tacloban City proper.

These people, mostly fishermen, came from the evacuation site at a public library in Tacloban City, and they were put far from the sea where their livelihood were and into the hills where water was scarce, according to Eugene Lamers, a 72-year-old chemical engineer from The Netherlands.

"It was painful for me to see these people, without water," said the Dutch engineer who have resided in Tacloban for the past 32 years and visited the evacuees last week. "The people may do away with electricity, at least for now, but not water," he said. "They are human beings, and the government must respond."

Lamers recounted to The Freeman the dire condition in that temporary housing site for Yolanda survivors of Tacloban. "I cried upon seeing their terrible situation," he lamented, adding that he did everything to approach government personnel, urging them to give water to the evacuees immediately.

A DSWD female worker assured him that water supply was coming to the area, so he waited. "I've stayed at the area for four hours," he said. No water came.

He recalled telling a policeman to arrest that DSWD woman for telling lies to the people. The policeman however told him that nothing can be done about the lack of water yet, and suggested to Lamers to go to the City Hall instead. At the City Hall, a female worker told Lamers to approach a man in the office who in turn directed him to another person, and then to another one in the other part of the office. He got nothing in return.

"For four days, there was no favorable result. Everybody seemed afraid of everything, or anything concerning water supply. And the evacuees out there were waiting for water," Lamers said.

Lamers said, "Where are the Euro 40-million money from Germany, and the Yen 90 million from Japan-all for Tacloban only? Why can't there be no water supply for these evacuees?"

The Freeman yesterday contacted Frederick Anido, the city's disaster risk management officer, who in turn explained the situation. "The people (evacuees) were not living like animals," he declared, saying that their condition was much better than at the evacuation center.

There are 200 temporary shelters, or bahay kubo, (he corrected the bunkhouse description) built at Barangays New Kawayan and Sto. Niño, via donations from Operations Blessings. The site is near Brgy. Suhi where the permanent housing of 10,000 units will be constructed starting this year until next year, said Anido.

"Among those who committed help in the building of permanent housing units were GMA Kapuso Foundation, the Phil. Red Cross and the Zonta Club, among others," he said, adding that the Taclobanons must be thankful for the efforts of these private organizations in helping the city and national governments on this endeavor to provide shelters to the Yolanda survivors.

Anido said some people must help by not complaining just for the sake of complaining. They have not been helping at all. Any complaint should be submitted to the city government in writing, so that we can act on these immediately," he said.

The city official, while admitting that water maybe scarce at this time, also said this is the transition period and the city government has been doing everything it can to provide the Yolanda survivors with permanent shelters. "We have just started the work. Heavy equipment were already in the area and we projected a year or two to realize this project. Other people must help, instead of complaining," he said.

Anido said the media must inspect the area to see for themselves the real situation. "There is no permanent water connection yet because the site is just temporary. Besides there is a water spring there. The city government has been sending water tankers also to supply the needs of the hundreds of families in the area. We are doing our best to attend to them, and they are not living like animals," he told The Freeman.  (FREEMAN)