Citing the need for more help for the victims of supertyphoon “Yolanda” in the Visayas region, women’s rights group Zonta International District 17 recently donated P6 million to the SM Cares Housing Village, SM’s flagship project to build 1,000 disaster-proof homes in areas affected by Yolanda.

Daisy Arce, ex-officio of Zonta Club of Manila Foundation Inc., the oldest club of Zonta International, said their donation was made possible through various fund-raising efforts conducted by the different Zonta chapters all over the country and the world.

“As the survivors started to pick up their lives and attention shifted to building shelters for the homeless, District 17 proposed to involve the organization and its members in this effort. Zonta decided to partner with SM Foundation for this project through its SM Cares Housing Project (as it has) a track record, having already finished two hundred houses in Barangay Polambato, Bogo, Cebu, another area devastated by Yolanda,” Arce said.

Zonta Club of Manila is one of the oldest clubs in the country having been founded in 1952 by some of the country’ outstanding woman leaders who included Supreme Court Justice Cecilia Munoz Palma, Senators Geronima Pecson, Helena Benitez and Pacita Madrigal-Warns, Ambassador Trinidad Legarda, Victoria Lopez Araneta, among others.

The donation was turned over to SM Foundation executive director Debbie Sy and SM Supermalls president Annie Garcia through the signing of a memorandum of agreement at the SM Corporate Offices at Mall of Asia.

Sy said they are extremely delighted and honored to have been given the support to the project because more than a year after the project’s launching in 2013, many individuals and groups still continue to give donations to the housing project. SM is aiming to raise P200 million for the project.

“We are very happy and honored of the trust they continue to give us. This keeps us inspired to see the project through until the last family beneficiary moves in to their new home,” Sy said.

Garcia, for her part, said Zonta’s donation will be used in building 30 houses at the housing village in New Kawayan in Tacloban City.

On Nov. 9, 2014, a year after the devastation, the first Housing Cares Village in Bogo, Cebu was turned over to the 200 beneficiary-families. Three more villages are being built and turned over to 800 family-beneficiaries by July of this year.

“So far we are on schedule. Everything is going on as planned and we would not have done this without the help of our donors and partners who have been with us since we started this project,” Garcia said.

Except for the village in Tacloban City with 400 houses, each of the four SM Cares Housing Villages will have 200 houses specially designed to be disaster-resilient. The village will have utilities, basic amenities like streetlights, community center and basketball court. Community and livelihood development programs will also be conducted in each village to make the project more sustainable for the residents.

Every housing unit is designed to brave events or effects that cannot be reasonably anticipated or controlled. Designed to be above the requirements of the Building Code and mandated standards, each house is composed of 5,000 psi pre-cast walls and roofs which can withstand the winds and strength of a Category 5 supertyphoon without any major material damage.

Homes will be given to deserving families for free.

The SM Cares Housing Project is on top of the P100 million SM has already committed to rehabilitate areas hard hit by Yolanda, including the rehabilitation of the Tacloban City Hospital in Leyte; the Bogo, Cebu Public School and the Palo, Leyte Public School.