MANILA, Philippines — Nearly P1.3 billion is needed to repair more than 1,000 classrooms affected by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck Northern Luzon on Wednesday, according to the Department of Education (DepEd).
Up to 422 classrooms were destroyed while 636 others were damaged due to the quake, latest data showed.
The Cordillera Administrative Region has the most number of damaged schools at 132 followed by Ilocos, 49; Cagayan Valley, 25, and Central Luzon, 18.
Calabarzon and the National Capital Region each reported one damaged school.
DepEd spokesman Michael Poa had earlier said additional funding may be requested to repair damaged infrastructure.
He said DepEd has funds to cover only school clean up drives and setting up of temporary learning spaces.
DepEd engineers from Cagayan Valley were mobilized to augment those conducting structural assessment of schools in the Cordilleras and Ilocos.
Representatives from the DepEd main office attended camp coordination and management and internally displaced person protection cluster meetings to discuss response operations and reporting arrangements.
Meanwhile, a majority of the 3,536 schools that declared work suspension in the aftermath of the earthquake resumed operations on Thursday.