The municipal government of Hinigaran in Negros Occidental is set to relocate more than 200 families who were situated in shoreline areas after the communities were tagged as a ‘no-build zone’ after Typhoon Tino destroyed their homes.
Hinigaran Mayor Mary Grace Arceo said in a recentt interview that the typhoon severely damaged hundreds of houses, while about 300 fisherfolk were affected after the typhoon wrecked their means of livelihood.
The 200 families to be relocated are from Barangays Tagda and Aranda, shoreline communities within the town. Following the typhoon, the local government has decided to tag their village as a ‘no-build zone’ after floods ruined their houses.
“We have areas where every typhoon is suffering from flooding, so we seek to relocate them where their livelihood will not be affected,” the mayor said, citing that they are planning to relocate victims within the same barangay.
Arceo added that “to preserve their livelihood, the municipality will bring them out of the ‘no build zone’ but possibly will be relocated within the same barangay to not take them away from their source of income.”
As of the press time, the municipal government is still waiting for the report of other barangays to determine additional families that are in need of relocation, raising that the initiative was for public safety.
If the government finds no possible areas within the barangay of the victims, they will be relocated to the 11-hectare land owned by the municipal government in Sitio Acacia, Barangay Gargato, the mayor said, expressing that “that was the plan of the municipality for the relocation site.”
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had given P5 million pesos for the recovery efforts of Hinigaran, which they received during the presidential visit on November 15.
Based on the data from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), 24 barangays composed of 23,681 families, or 92,269 individuals, were affected by Typhoon Tino, which killed 10 residents of Hinigaran. (Richard Caballero Jr. Via tvds photo by watchmen daily)