600 Students, Evacuees Attend Classes at Evac Center

Classes for the more than 600 elementary students billeted at the Naalad Elementary School (ES) evacuation center already resumed starting Sept. 27, a week after the tragic landslide that hit Sitios Sindulan and Tagaytay in Barangay Tinaan, City of Naga, Cebu.

Lovelyn Garcia, the Cebu Provincial Social Welfare Office (PSWDO) staff assigned at Naalad Elementary School, said that evacuees have started joining the regular lessons along with regular students.

Last week, Gov. Hilario P. Davide III instructed all Capitol frontline services to deploy personnel to help allied agencies under the City Government of Naga following a landslide that left 77 people dead (as of latest count) and at least 22 others missing.

Naalad ES was among the 11 evacuation centers designated by the local government of Naga a few hours after the tragedy, wherein the damage was estimated to have covered a five-hectare lot in the community.

Naalad is an adjacent barangay of Sitio Sindulan. It is situated a few meters from the ground zero. There are 10 houses affected in Barangay Naalad as per reference from the 2014 image of Phil-LiDAR program.

As of 6 p.m. of Sept. 27, there are at least 179 families taking shelter at Naalad ES. Of these numbers, there are 192 children, five PWDs or persons with disabilities, 18 pregnant women, 54 senior citizens and 21 infants.

Garcia said regular classes from day care up to grade six have already resumed.

“Aside from debriefing process, regular students and evacuees also attend regular school lessons,” Garcia said.

Based on the PSWDO’s data, there are nine evacuees-students in day care center, nine in kinder, six in grade one, nine in grade two, 12 in grade three, four in grade four, eight in grade 5, and eight in grade 6.

Garcia said these pupils joined classes along with 639 elementary pupils enrolled in the school.

PSWDO head Marivic Garces deployed her staff to assist the evacuees’ welfare needs that include stress debriefing and daily recovery programs.

Aside from assisting the Department of Social Welfare and Services, PSWDO also extended support in handling donation, including tasting of donated food along with the units from the Cebu Provincial Health Office. (CEBU PROVINCIAL GOV’T)