One more child dies from fire

One more child died from the fire that hit Barangay Ermita in Cebu City last Monday morning.

Ermita Captain Mark Miral and the Bureau of Fire Protection identified the child as seven-yearold Princess Alolod Echavez.

She passed away late yesterday afternoon at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center where she was being treated for second degree burns.

“Grabe iyang paso, naa sa iyang nawng… Hapit mahurot iyang lawas… Mao sa’y kritikal gahapon,” said Nigel Bañacia, chief of the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CCDRRMO).

Miral said it was Echavez’s relatives who confirmed the child’s death at the barangay hall.

Echavez is a cousin of the two children who died last Monday after they were trapped inside their house where the fire broke out.

The two other children, siblings John Mark and Jovielyn Digman, were sleeping on the second floor of the house when the improvised kerosene stove their mother used for cooking exploded.

When the stove exploded, their mother reportedly panicked and rushed out of the house, forgetting that her children were still sleeping upstairs. Their father tried to rescue the children but to no avail as the fire became too big and hot.

At least 2,715 people or 653 families lost their homes to the fire that razed 328 houses, said Lea Japson, head of the city's Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS).

Miral said help has been pouring in from different sectors.

“Gi-organize na nato. Gahapon, wa man tay suga so naningkamot ta nga masugaan gyud ni atong complex para sa mga affected victims… nagbutang usab ta og charging station para sa cellphones kay basin naa sila'y mga relatives from outside nga ganahan mo contact,” Miral told The FREEMAN.

Sitio Ermita and Sitio Kawit of Barangay Ermita have been placed under a state of calamity.

Genevieve Alcoseba, head of the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP), said majority of the areas affected are city-owned properties that house the Proper Ermita Home Association, Kawit Home Owner's Association, and Kawit Neighborhood Home Owner's Association.

She said the city wants to re-block the area so it can widen roads and pathways.

Firefighters found it difficult to penetrate the area last Monday owing to narrow roads.

“Gusto kay ta mo-reblock kay especially nga nakaltasan og kinabuhi sa mga bata ba, which is very heartbreaking… but then our immediate solution for now is to really set back,” Alcoseba said.

She said the city would need to consult with engineers to determine how much space is needed to widen roads and pathways.

“If dili ni nato i-implement, the same thing will happen… simbako lang, same problem will occur nya balik-balik ra… kutob sa mahimo, kung pwede nato ma-reblock, we will reblock but kung masangit ta sa istoryahon sa ownership kay titled na, then ang atong pinaka-immediate nga ma-implement is the setback,” Alcoseba said.

DWUP will meet the fire survivors today. Mayor Tomas Osmeña said politics will not have a say in the city's decisions on the affected communities.

“I don't like to play politics with casualties,” he said.