Tacloban City council enacts 40-meters-from-shore building ban

One month after being hit hard by Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), Tacloban City this week passed an ordinance banning the building of houses and other structures 40 meters from the shoreline.

 

The city council passed the ordinance last Wednesday but the city administrator disclosed it on Friday.

 

“Whether or not you have a land title, no building permit will be issued to you if you will put up residential houses within 40 meters of the shorelines,” state-run Philippines News Agency quoted city administrator lawyer Tecson John Lim as saying.

 

The PNA said the ordinance may affect some 7,339 families from coastal communities of the city.

 

Lim said the ordinance was passed in response to the request of the International Organization for Migration, UN Habitat for Humanity, GIZ and the urban planning cluster “until they can come up with the proper building code and a master plan.”

 

Measured at high tide

 

He said the 40 meters shall be measured after the high tide, though the ordinance will not cover already existing structures.

 

But he also sought understanding from affected residents, saying the city government does not want a repeat of what happened when Yolanda battered Visayas last Nov. 8.

 

Tacloban was one of the areas hit hardest by Yolanda, which has left more than 6,000 dead in its wake.

 

Meanwhile, the PNA report said the affected families will be housed in bunkhouses or temporary shelters that are being constructed by the Department of Public Works and Highways.  — ELR, GMA News