Post-Yolanda rehabilitation:

PBSP, DepEd to build disaster-resilient classrooms with donors

By REGGIE MARIE B. BARRIENTOS
February 22, 2014

CEBU CITY – More than 5,900 school children in different parts of the Visayas will soon receive new classrooms donated by international organizations and companies in partnership with the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) and Department of Education (DepEd).

With more than P137 million pooled for this effort, PBSP will be rebuilding 132 disaster-resilient classrooms in the provinces of Leyte, Cebu, Bohol, Iloilo and Capiz.

The project aims to assist DepEd in addressing the classroom backlog of the country, which worsened when Typhoon Yolanda hit the country last November 2013.

DepEd has gathered that close to 4,600 classrooms were totally destroyed post-Yolanda while over 13,000 classrooms badly needed repairs. In Leyte, 1,706 classrooms were totally damaged and collapsed affecting 186,617 students while in northern Cebu, 357 classrooms are totally damaged while 1,832 classrooms needed repairs.

PBSP’s disaster-resilient classroom school building costs around P1.3 million and is designed to withstand a 5.2-magnitude earthquake and a wind speed of 250 kilometers per hour. It is elevated at least one meter from the ground and contains a cemented roof deck instead of an angled roof. Stairs are provided at the center of the building to provide access to the roof deck in case of emergency flooding while ramps and wider doors are also included in the building design to be friendly with persons with disabilities.

Aside from being disaster-resilient, the school buildings include furniture and safe water and both male and female toilet facilities.

Donors supporting PBSP in the classroom project include the Australian Agency for International Development (AUSAID), Epson Precision (Philippines) Inc., Telus International Philippines Inc., China Trust Banking Corporation, Mondelez International Inc., Intel Philippines, Felta Multi-Media Inc., Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines Inc., International Container Terminal Services Inc., PHINMA Corporation and YesPinoy Foundation.

PBSP plans to turn over at least 67 classrooms within the year while all classrooms donated by AUSAID will be completed by 2015.

PBSP is the largest corporate-led social development foundation in the country, with over 240 companies as members. After Typhoon Yolanda swept the Visayas and displaced more than four million people and destroyed over one million houses, PBSP was able to raise more than PHP 13 million and provided 20,378 households in Cebu, Leyte and Eastern and Western Samar with relief goods and hygiene and comfort kits.