PRC to give tents for Albay students

TENTS FOR STUDENTS. The Philippine Red Cross will provide tents like this to serve as temporary classrooms for students in Albay whose schools have been used as evacuation centers. Each tent could accommodate 45 children. (Photo courtesy of PRC)

MANILA — The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) has pledged to provide temporary learning facilities for students in Albay after schools in the province have been used as temporary shelters for people affected by Mayon Volcano’s eruptions.

“Shortage of classrooms is now a problem in the province because most of the classrooms are being used as evacuation centers. We cannot deprive children of education. Learning must never stop amidst the looming disaster,” PRC Chairperson Richard Gordon said during the turnover of tents donated by the Turkish Red Crescent Society on Thursday.

The tents will serve as temporary classrooms.

Gordon said five of these tents would be put up by the PRC in various schools in the towns of Camalig, Malilipot and Guinobatan.

With an area of 56 sq. meters, each tent could accommodate up to 45 pupils, he added.

In a news release, the PRC said that they were constructing 10 transitional toilets in various evacuation centers in Guinobatan and Malilipot.

The PRC has also provided 335,000 liters of clean water, and has promoted hygiene among 5,619 individuals since the humanitarian organization began its Mayon operations.

It has also distributed more than 6,000 masks among evacuees to protect them from the hazards of volcanic ash, provided hot meals to 2,373 people, and extended psychosocial support to 9,877 individuals, and play therapy to 55 children who had been traumatized.

The Turkish Red Crescent Society has also turned over a PHP3.3-million donation to the PRC in support of relief operations in provinces hit by Typhoon Vinta. (PRC)