TACLOBAN CITY- A four-storey building that will serve as a depository of documentations about super typhoon ‘Yolanda’ will be constructed here in the city.
The proposed building, to be known as the Philippine Center for Climate Resilience, had its ground-breaking Friday (August 18) located in Barangay Salvacion, a northern village located about 14 kms from the city center.
Leading the groundbreaking ceremony were Secretary Emmanuel de Guzman of the Climate Change Commission, officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) led by its director, Leonardo Sibbaluca, officials of the Office of Civil Defense headed by Director Edgar Posadas and city officials led by Mayor Cristina Romualdez, Vice Mayor Jerry Yaokasin and Councilor Aimee Grafil.
The structure, sitting at about 1.5 hectares which inside a protected area of the DENR, is expected to be finished within six months with an initial budget of P50 million donated by Senator Loren Legarda, a known environmental advocate.
Sec. de Guzman said that the structure will serve as a “depository of documentation of Yolanda experience.”
“We should continue to learn from the lessons of Yolanda,” he said.
The structure will also serve as a training center, capacity building and advocacy campaign on climate change.
The construction of the building was pushed by PH Haiyan Advocacy Cooperative, a non-government organization which campaigns on protecting the environment.
Mayor Romualdez said that she is thankful that the structure is to be built in Tacloban, considered as the ground zero of ‘Yolanda,’ the world’s strongest typhoon to hit inland.
“Not only you are the ground zero of Yolanda but ground zero of resilience radiating all over the country and the world,” de Guzman said.
de Guzman said that he is planning to showcase the project during a climate change summit in Bonn, Germany this November.
“This is certainly a major development and they might just extend assistance to us,” he said.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
