DepEd: Almost P1.3B needed to repair quake-hit schools

Almost P1.3 billion would be needed for the repair and construction of over 9,000 schools affected by Wednesday’s magnitude 7 earthquake in northern Luzon, according to the Department of Education (DepEd).

The DepEd on Friday said 9,539 schools have been affected by the strong tremors while 226 were damaged. Of which, 132 were from the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), 49 were from Ilocos Region, 25 from Cagayan Valley Region, 18 from Central Luzon Region, one in Metro Manila, and one in CALABARZON.

At least 442 classrooms were totally damaged while 636 need major repair work.

“Accordingly, an estimated Php 1.298 billion is needed for the repair and reconstruction of totally and partially major damaged classrooms,” DepEd said in a statement.

The personnel in majority of the affected schools have already resumed work on Thursday, July 28 after operations were suspended in light of the incident, the agency added.

Apart from their ongoing relief disaster efforts, the DepEd said its Education Facilities Division mobilized its engineers from the Cagayan Valley region to augment the workforce of CAR and Ilocos to conduct structural assessment.

DepEd Central Office representatives also attended the Camp Coordination and Camp Management and Internally Displaced Person Protection cluster meeting to discuss ongoing response operations and reporting arrangements.

Further, the National Education Cluster Partners also conducted a rapid assessment of damages and immediate needs and to determine regions or divisions that need Psychological First Aid. -- BAP, GMA News