CATANAUAN, Quezon — The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation has recently inaugurated a two-story multi-purpose evacuation building in Barangay Madulao, one of the most populated villages in the municipality of Catanauan.
This comes as the local government here aims to boost its disaster preparedness efforts due to frequent natural disasters which force residents to flee their homes.
The P50-million structure is the fifth Pagcor multi-purpose evacuation center to be constructed in Quezon province and Catanauan is among the areas that usually suffer from devastating typhoons but lacked facilities to shelter locals during severe storms.
Catanauan Mayor Atty. Ramon Orfanel said Pagcor's multi-purpose structure will help the local government ensure the safety of residents in case they need immediate evacuation in the future.
"While we are always on guard against natural calamities, we lack comfortable facilities for our people who are most vulnerable to the impact of natural disasters. Having a structure like this will help address that problem and enhance our emergency preparedness," Orfanel said.
He added that when not being used as an evacuation site, the multi-purpose center can serve as a venue for special activities and even as an extension office of the Catanauan LGU.
"This will definitely bring government services closer to the people of Barangay Madulao and the residents of nearby villages and it will really help us bring better services to multitudes in our town," the mayor said.