NATION
Sorsogon to relocate vendors, rebuild fire-hit market
The provincial government of Sorsogon has started steps for the relocation of affected vendors and the completion of rehabilitation plans of the Sorsogon City public market which burned Saturday, 24 October. Sorsogon Gov. Jose Edwin "Boboy" Hamor promised that the temporary market facility that will be built at the Sorsogon City Coastal Road will be ready in ten days.
NAGA CITY – After a massive fire burned down the main building of Sorsogon City’s public market on Saturday, 24 October, the provincial government of Sorsogon has started steps for the relocation of affected vendors and the completion of rehabilitation plans.
Sorsogon Gov. Jose Edwin "Boboy" Hamor gathered officials and department heads of Sorsogon City to discuss updates on the plan to relocate the vendors to a temporary space at the Sorsogon City Coastal Road.
At the meeting Hamor presented the structural design of the planned temporary market facility that will be built on the vacant lot at the vicinity of the coastal road. Hamor promised that the temporary market facility will be built within ten days in order to ensure that the vendors could resume their livelihood soon.
The Provincial Engineering Office was told to speed up preparation and construction of the temporary stalls.
The public market was hit by fire at around 10:40 p.m. Saturday.
Five people, businesswoman Lerisa Grefalda Tadong, her daughter Chloe and three market vendors, died in the fire that lasted until 2:25 a.m. Sunday, 25 October. They were found in the comfort room of a stall after they were initially reported missing, the Sorsogon police said.
The Sorsogon City public market building was constructed in 1976 and opened for occupancy in 1977, following a major fire in February 1976 that destroyed the previous market in Barangay Sirangan.
Due to it being made mostly of flammable wood, the fire consumed all of the stalls in the two-story main building.
The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Sorsogon City is yet to finish its investigation on the origin of the fire and the exact amount of the damage it left.
Meanwhile, the affected vendors and the families of the deceased victims received food packs and financial assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, hygiene kits from the Office of Civil Defense, and kitchen kits from the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO), the Sorsogon Provincial Information Office said.
Sorsogon City Mayor Ester Hamor also visited the vendors, assuring them of more financial aid soon to help them recover their losses.