Hold on together

“DepEd could not yet make up a picture of the total amount of the cost it would take to rebuild all these schools. It would run to hundreds of millions — if not several billions — for sure.

There is no formal and official assessment yet of the total damage of the successive earthquakes that have struck a large part of Mindanao in the last two weeks. Judging from videos and photographs of houses and buildings that took the brunt of the earth’s whip, it would take longer for the region to get back on its feet.

Other than the homes, which many Mindanaoans could not yet trust to host them as they sleep, so many other structures have lost their strength and integrity, prompting residents to ditch their houses and settle in temporary shelters where they feel safer.

Those who have not felt the earth’s wrath could not blame them. Three earthquakes past intensity six have struck the island in two weeks, the last two in succession of two days. Strong aftershocks have also been recorded. As of this writing, there have been nearly 500 grumblings.

A local government official said some of their constituents would rise from sleep at the sound of tin sheets screeching as they move.

Many of their people have preferred staying in tarpaulin-covered temporary abodes. It is there where they have peace of mind.

It has been two weeks now since the first quake damaged many structures in the area. And among these are schools, some of which the local government leaders said have been completely flattened and rendered useless.

They could not even be used for the victims’ temporary shelters as they had been in the past, during other kinds of calamities.

It is a concern that the national government, for sure, will take a look at when events have settled somehow.

Daily Tribune raised the issue last week after reports of more than 200 school structures have been flattened in the aftermath of the quake.

As a result, more than three million students have been displaced and nearly 7,000 schools have been compromised of their integrity.

The Department of Education (DepEd) admitted that the displaced students would have to wait for the assessment of experts before they could return to their classrooms.

Paolo Aquino, Project Development Officer III at the DepEd’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service, said a total of 6,980 schools in various divisions have suspended classes following the magnitude 6.6 earthquake on Tuesday.

Another 6.5 magnitude quake struck on Wednesday, crushing a hotel and damaging more structures.

Classes in private and public schools in 28 school division offices from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Regions 10, 11 and 12 have been suspended to ensure the safety of the students and teachers — all 3,326,822 of them.

The DepEd could not yet make up a picture of the total amount of the cost it would take to rebuild all these schools. It would run to hundreds of millions — if not several billions — for sure, however.

National government will have to look for funds to bring the classrooms back to the students, many of whom will graduate next year without seeing their schools back in their full might and glory.

We have seen destruction come to Luzon via the 16 July 1990 earthquake. It took years before the island managed to stand up again but without forgetting the loved ones they had lost.

We have seen parts of the Visayas mourn when flood came to Ormoc and tsunami swept several towns in Tacloban and its fringes. Their people have yet to recover from those disasters.

The Filipino people, however, have seen great wars and survived other big tests that came.

We will move on and be better from this last.