MANILA: A huge fire that swept through a crowded shanty town in metropolitan Manila has razed more than 800 homes, leaving thousands homeless after they were forced to flee for their lives from the towering flames, officials said Thursday.
Residents joined forces with firefighters to battle Wednesday’s blaze which spread quickly among the narrow alleys, helping smash down the walls of makeshift houses to allow crews access to the flames.
People evacuated their homes carrying young children and whatever possessions they could salvage, with thousands forced to seek shelter in makeshift tents at a local park. Officials said 200 houses were destroyed and up to 5,000 people have been left homeless.
Despite the devastation, no one was killed in the disaster and only four people were injured as they clambered over their homes to escape, authorities said.
Desperate locals called out “over here, over here” to a military helicopter which was drafted in to dump water on the blaze, after fire engines could not reach the heart of the inferno in the sprawling shanty town called Barangay Addition Hills in Mandaluyong, one of the cities of the national capital region.
“The alleys were too narrow and people were rushing out. Even worse, the wind was strong and fanned the flames,” said chief fire marshall Nahum Vitarosa.
He added that deaths were avoided because the fire broke out in the afternoon when residents were able to evacuate quickly.
“If it happened at night, it would have been a real tragedy. People would have been left behind in the dark,” he added.
Residents are also used to coping with fires which break out frequently in shanty towns, although rarely on this scale, Vitarosa said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation but Vitarosa said authorities suspected a short circuit, possibly from an illegal connection to power lines.
He added that about 2,000 families had been forced to seek shelter in a public park, a gym and a school while authorities looked for emergency housing.
Manicurist Matilde Agustin, 59, said she narrowly escaped with her daughter-in-law and four grandchildren as the blaze engulfed their home.
“We rushed out as soon as we could,” she said, adding she fled carrying her youngest grandchild, a one-year-old girl.
The family only managed to salvage a few meagre possessions including some clothes and a small statue of the infant Jesus, she told AFP.
Her son Rommel Agustin, a laborer, was now going through the ruins, trying to find scrap metal he could sell but the rubble was still smoking, she added.
The family was sheltering under a makeshift tent at a public park along with hundreds of other residents surviving on government food handouts.
“It is shameful that we have to celebrate Christmas like this... but it is okay that almost nothing was saved as long as no one was hurt,” she said.
Fires in shanty towns, where homes are made of little more than scrap wood, are common in Manila — a metropolis of more than 11 million people — but Vitarosa said this was the worst such fire he had seen in five years.
Massive Philippine blaze leaves thousands homeless
Massive Philippine blaze leaves thousands homeless
Modi’s rooftop solar push slowed by reluctant lenders, states
- The shortfalls represent the latest challenge to India’s efforts to nearly double clean energy capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030
SINGAPORE/MUMBAI/BHUBANESWAR, India: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to accelerate the rollout of rooftop solar power is falling short of targets despite heavy subsidies due to loan delays and limited support from state utilities, vendors and analysts say.
The shortfalls represent the latest challenge to India’s efforts to nearly double clean energy capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030, and come as the government plans to suspend clean energy tendering targets amid a mounting backlog of awarded projects yet to be built.
Challenges to plans to increase solar uptake may mean India maintains its reliance on coal-fired power.
India’s Ministry for New and Renewable Energy created its subsidy program for residential solar panel installations in February 2024, covering up to 40 percent of the costs.
But residential installations at 2.36 million are well below the ministry’s target of 4 million by March, according to data from the program’s website.
“Banks’ reluctance to lend and states’ hesitance to promote the schemes could derail India’s efforts to transition away from coal,” said Shreya Jai, the lead energy analyst at research firm Climate Trends in New Delhi.
Roughly three in five rooftop solar applications filed on the scheme’s website are yet to be approved while about 7 percent have been rejected, according to government data on the program, known as the PM Surya Ghar.
In a statement to Reuters about the pending applications, the renewable energy ministry pointed to accelerating installations which have benefited over 3 million households, and said the scheme enables state-owned utilities to reduce subsidy payouts to keep residential power bills in check.
“The loan rejection rate varies across states,” the statement said.
Under PM Surya Ghar, consumers apply and select a vendor who handles paperwork and arranges bank financing for solar panels. After loan approval and installation, the vendor submits proof, after which the government subsidy is credited to the bank.
BANK DELAYS
However, banks have been rejecting or delaying loans for numerous reasons including lack of documentation, which they say is necessary to protect public funds.
“We are working with the government to push for some standard documentation, because it is necessary to avoid bad loans. Currently if loans go bad, banks can take away these panels but what will we do with these panels?” said a senior official at a major government-owned bank.
Chamrulal Mishra, a solar vendor in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, said applications are often rejected because the customer has missed electricity payments or because land records are still in the name of deceased relatives.
Residents there dispute the claims that they have missed payments, which they attribute to administrative errors after a change in utility ownership decades prior.
A spokesperson for India’s Department of Financial Services, which regulates the country’s banks, said they have responded to consumer feedback to allow co-applicants for loans to clear up title claims and the simplification of documentation requirements.
The Renewable Energy Association of Rajasthan said some banks are making collateral demands for loans under 200,000 Indian rupees ($2,208.87), despite scheme guidelines not requiring them to, which is constraining solar power additions.
State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank, some of the country’s largest lenders, did not reply to requests for comment on the matter.
State-owned utilities are also not promoting rooftop solar as much, as they are concerned about the loss of revenue as sales move off the electric grid.
“Wealthier households typically have high electricity consumption, tariffs and reliable roof access. When they shift from the grid, it leaves a larger financial burden,” said Niteesh Shanbog, an analyst at Rystad Energy.
