For Yolanda homeless in Tacloban City; USAID, PRDF turn over 240 ‘butterfly’ houses

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines — For more than three years after super typhoon Yolanda devastated Eastern Visayas and other parts of the Philippines, the US government and the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF) on February 24 turned over 240 eco-friendly houses to as many families at Barangay Suhi in the northern part of Tacloban City.

These so-called ‘butterfly houses’ are transitional dwellings made of eco-boards—containing 100 percent recycled materials—80 percent of which is plastic and 20 percent aluminum.

These innovative housing units are fireproof and waterproof that can withstand storm winds of up to 195 kilometers per hour.

PLDT chairman and chief operating officer Manuel Pangilinan, who also co-chairs PRDF, said this housing project is a means for the people of Tacloban to realize their dreams of rebuilding their communities.

"These smartly designed homes will help the beneficiary families in Tacloban to move forward, and realize their resiliency hopes and dreams," Pangilinan added.

PRDF president Rene Meily, in a brief interview with The Freeman and The Philippine Star, said the distribution of the ‘butterfly houses’ for displaced families came late though due to lack of site to build these.

“Nagkaproblema kasi kami sa lote where we can build these ‘butterfly houses,’ knowing that some of those displaced families have already their permanent shelters, built by the national government and other international NGOs,” Meily said.

“But we will stand for other recovery efforts na kailangan pa for Yolanda survivors. And the good news here is that some of the ‘butterfly houses’ are also donated to the city government, as shelter preparation in times of disaster," Meily added.

The US government partnered with the PRDF project through the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Earlier, USAID officials announced its commitment of support to the Philippines for Yolanda recovery and rebuilding efforts, with an outlay of about $142.5 million.

Early February, the USAID and PRDF also turned over 44 ‘butterfly houses’ to selected beneficiary families. Thirty of these were financed by donations raised by 1,800 employees of PLDT, through their House of Joy project.

The latest turnover in Tacloban City also was the second batch of ‘butterfly houses’ constructed under the program BREACH (Building Resilient and Economically Adept Communities and Households) of the USAID.

BREACH supports the development of a transitional community by providing individual shelter units, access to basic services, transport systems to facilitate mobility of goods and people, economic opportunities, capability building for disaster preparedness, and strengthening risk mitigation for the community.

As part of the program, PRDF also partnered with the Negros Women for Tomorrow (NWT) in setting up of a transportation business—using 12 multi-cabs—as a livelihood project for the community. PRDF turned over these multi-cabs to NWT that will serve at least 14,000 families, rendered homeless by Yolanda, and relocated in the northern area of Tacloban. (FREEMAN)