The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) is actively taking part in a whole-of-nation response to aid quake-hit Cebu province, along with other national government agencies (NGAs) and non-government organizations (NGOs).

“This is in line with the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to unite government agencies and the private sector in helping our fellow citizens recover from the earthquake in Cebu,” DHSUD Secretary Jose Ramon Aliling said.

On Saturday, top DHSUD officials took part in an interagency response meeting in Bogo City — one of the areas hardest-hit by the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that struck on Tuesday.

Undersecretaries Ed Robles and Ramon Quintin Allado and Assistant Secretary Hernando Caraig Jr. joined Philippine Red Cross chairman Richard Gordon and other key officials from NGAs and NGOs during the meeting aimed at maximizing government and private response to aid the quake victims.

The DHSUD officials also inspected a residential area in Purok Joseph, Barangay Dakit, Bogo City, which was believed to be along the fault line that triggered the devastating earthquake.

Tent city to rise

They saw the devastation to residential structures in Bogo City along with officials of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) and other government agencies during their inspection in Barangay Dakit.

The DHSUD officials also visited the proposed site of a “tent city” that will serve as temporary shelters for Bogo City residents who were either displaced after their homes were damaged or were still afraid to return home.

Secretary Aliling sent the DHSUD team to Cebu on Friday to conduct a ground assessment and determine what assistance could be provided to the quake victims.

Also on Friday, Aliling ordered DHSUD’s key shelter agencies to suspend housing amortization charges to victims of the earthquake and the recent typhoons “Nando” and “Opong” in Bicol and Cebu in compliance with the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.

“In line with the directive of President Marcos, the DHSUD and its attached agencies are ready to assist disaster victims on their road to recovery,” Aliling said.

“As an initial form of assistance, we have suspended housing amortization payments for members affected by the typhoons and earthquakes in Bicol and Cebu,” he added.