Majority of earthquake-affected families in Kidapawan City have left the evacuation centers. (MindaNews photo)

Families displaced by the series of earthquakes in Kidapawan City have started to return home to slowly rebuild their lives, officials said Wednesday.

Mayor Joseph Evangelista also ordered the closure of some of the evacuation centers except in some areas where the communities were too dangerous to reoccupy.

“Internally displaced persons under category 1 and 2 have already returned to their respective communities,” he said.

Category 1 refers to residents who fled but their homes that were not damaged, while category 2 refers to those who evacuated because their houses were damaged and were given cash assistance for repair works.

Category 3 refers to residents whose houses were damaged and from communities identified as “no-build zone” by the city government and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.

The residents — composed of 1,700 families from Barangays Ilomavis, Perez and Balabag — are currently staying at evacuation centers amid efforts of the city government to scout for relocation sites.

“Mahadlok eh (Afraid, of course),” said Elsa Sebastiana, one of the residents who belonged to category 2, when asked of her return to the village.

She added, however, that they had no choice and all they could do is pray that there would be no more aftershocks.

More than 2,000 aftershocks were recorded by the state volcanology office since 16 October when a magnitude 6.3 tremor struck North Cotabato.

Recently, the Kidapawan City Sangguniang Panlungsod authorized Evangelista to negotiate for a PHP100-million loan from Land Bank of the Philippines for the rebuilding of the city.

The amount will be used for lot acquisition, building of house structures and livelihood for affected families. (PNA)