The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) recently completed its P33.9-million evacuation center project in Barangay Tinimbo, Municipality of Cateel, Davao Oriental.
DPWH Secretary Mark Villar said the Cateel Evacuation Center Project which was implemented to improve preparedness of the municipality of Cateel in times of calamities, cover the construction of a 2-storey accommodation building, an infirmary and office building, water tanks, and other necessary facilities and equipment.
The center also has prayer rooms, dining and kitchen area, breastfeeding rooms, and separate toilet and bath buildings for males, females, and PWDs.
“Philippines is highly vulnerable to natural calamities, thus providing strong, reliable and well-equipped evacuation centers is one of the main concerns of DPWH,” said Secretary Villar.
It can be recalled that the municipality of Cateel left devastated during the onslaught of Typhoon Pablo in 2012, even losing the town’s evacuation center.
The construction of the new Cateel Evacuation Center was implemented by DPWH Region XI in coordination with the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC), the Department of Education (DepEd), the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).