Leyte Landslide

ST. BERNARD, Southern Leyte—It was a happy day for couple Melencio and Norma Navos who were receiving visitors in their new house, among them some prominent people from Manila and abroad.

Like the Navoses, 129 other families, who were also victims of the landslide that obliterated their village last year, also formally received that Sunday their new houses at the Red Cross Village in Barangay New Guinsaugon, this town.

These 130 families now occupy the 65 duplex houses constructed using high-quality New Zealand steel frame technology and heat and termite-resistant cement board wall materials. Painted in white, each housing unit has a floor area of 30 sq. m. and an additional 5 sq. m. loft.

The construction of these houses, which was undertaken by Habitat for Humanity starting a few weeks after the landslide in February 2006, formed part of the P25-million rehabilitation project funded by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID).

The blessing and formal turnover of the housing units was held March 18, 2007 at the Red Cross Village, with Australian Ambassador Tony Hely, Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) chair Richard Gordon, PNRC secretary general Alma de Leon and AusAID Counsellor Sam Zappia as guests.

“The Red Cross Village is a physical manifestation of your building up as a community and as a family, and the Australian government is glad to be part of this legacy through our relief and rehabilitation assistance,” Hely said in his message during the program.

He said part of the assistance provided by the Australian government to the Red Cross is the organization and training of volunteers, as well as the provision of gears such as helmets, rain boots and first aid kits to all 30 barangays in St. Bernard.

“AusAID has also committed P32 million to the Red Cross for a community-based disaster preparedness project and also provided P36 million to UNDP for a disaster management project particularly for mapping areas vulnerable to hazards,” the ambassador added.

Hely told the crowd that the occasion was a celebration not of the people’s recovery from calamity but also of the prospects for a better future.

In his message, Gordon said the “primary purpose of the Red Cross is not only to alleviate human suffering but to restore human dignity right away.”

Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Lito Baylan, president of the homeowners association, expressed thanks to the donors particularly the Australians and the Red Cross, “for the gift of shelter and security.”