MANILA, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Philippine authorities are planning to pitch tents in the war-torn Marawi City in the southern Philippines to temporality house the thousands of residents displaced by the 49-day conflict, a military spokesman said on Monday.
Brig. Gen, Restitution Padilla said the government will proceed with its initial plan to set up tents as temporary shelters for the 471,224 residents who were forced to flee to avoid the fighting between government troops and militants linked to the Islamic State (IS).
"This week we might have already broken the ground for the resettlement areas in Marawi for the setting up of the initial tent city, which will be converted to a temporary resettlement," Padilla told a news conference at the Malacanang presidential palace.
At the request of the local government as well as the evacuees, he said, the government will provide not jut tents but also "elevated habitation that could provide a more decent housing for the Muslim families."
As of Monday morning, he said "we were informed that based on the plans, there will be about 3,000 of these units that will be set up to act as the temporary shelter for our evacuees whose houses have been damaged during the conflict."
The ongoing battle, which broke out on May 23, to retake the city has damaged many houses and buildings and has so far killed 507, including 379 terrorists, 39 civilians and 89 soldiers and policemen.
Padilla said the government is ready to start the early stage of rehabilitation of the besieged city.
In fact, he said the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is finalizing the preparation for the deployment of "well-experienced" engineers for its Engineering Units to help in the rehabilitation process particularly in the restoration of public infrastructures such as school building, mosques, multi-purpose centers, farm-to-market roads and health centers, among others.
