“Necessity may well be called
the mother of invention but calamity is the test of integrity.” Samuel
Richardson
By Alex P. Vidal
AJUY, Iloilo –- Like other
coastal towns in northern Iloilo badly hit by the November 8, 2013
super-typhoon Yolanda, this municipality, with a population of 47,248, is slowly
inching its way to recovery.
“We are slowly going back to
normal,” Vice Mayor Jose C. Rojas IV told this writer October 27. “People in
our municipality are starting to live a normal life once again (almost a year
since the worst typhoon in history hit the province).
A total of 9,988 houses
comprising 89 percent of the town’s 11,169 total households were smashed by the
typhoon; 4,156 of them were partially damaged and 5,832 totally damaged.
Rojas confirmed that eight
residents had died in the aftermath of the typhoon that wrecked their public
gymnasium, their new municipal hall, market and schools.
Rojas said they were not
actually neglected in the aftermath of the powerful storm even as he praised
the Philippine National Red Cross, Adventist Development Relief Agency, and
Caritas, among other private donors that sent personnel to assist the victims
and distribute relief goods.
NORMAL
“We are almost OK here in as
far as the normal life of the people of Ajuy is concerned although we still
have some unfinished infrastructure projects,” Rojas disclosed.
The Department of Interior and
Local Government (DILG) has released a total of P7.9 million for the repair of
their gymnasium (P6.5 million), municipal hall (P990, 000), and public markets
(P450, 000).
The Social Welfare and
Development (DSWD) had also pledged to give P10,000 worth of housing materials
for partially damaged houses and P30,000 for totally damaged.
Typhoon-affected farmers
received from the Department of Agriculture (DA) certified palay and corn seeds
and 255,000 bangus fingerlings to fishpond operators.
RELIEF
Mayor Juancho Alvarez had
lamented earlier that some of the relief goods they received from other
countries sent through balikbayan boxes were damaged and expired.
Alvarez expects Ajuy to fully
recover in terms of restoration of major infrastructures within two years.
Meanwhile, Rojas said peace
and order is also back to normal here.
There were a few cases of
violence recorded recently but they were not politically-motivated, he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment