MANILA, Philippines - At least a hundred people were feared buried in Barangay Solongan, La Libertad town in Negros Oriental shortly after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck the Visayas on Monday.
As the confirmed death toll rose to 48 yesterday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said it had recorded over a thousand aftershocks. Phivolcs warned residents near the epicenter that there could be more quakes in the next few weeks.
“The authorities estimate that about 100 persons were buried,” said Minda Morante, director of the Office of Civil Defense in Central Visayas, yesterday.
Morante said they have not regarded the estimate as an official figure because retrieval operations are still ongoing in the area.
She said there are about 70 houses at the site of the landslide and disaster management officials are not discounting the possibility that some houses may just have been isolated.
“We’re now getting shovels and chainsaws to start rescue because there were people trapped inside. Some of them were yelling for help earlier,” said La Libertad police chief Inspector Eric Arrol Besario.
Rescuers also dug through rubble with their bare hands and shovels in Guihulngan, a coastal city of 100,000 residents flanked by mountains that was close to the epicenter.
The city’s public market, courthouse and residential houses had collapsed or were damaged.
In the mountain village of Planas, 15 kilometers from Guihulngan, as many as 30 houses were buried with at least 40 residents believed trapped.
Guihulngan Mayor Ernesto Reyes said the situation is bad but they are hoping that there will be survivors.
Col. Francisco Patrimonio, chief of the Army’s 302nd brigade, estimated the death toll at 48, 92 persons missing and 56 others wounded, but the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management (NDRRMC) and local government officials have different figures.
A majority of the casualties died in a landslide that hit Guihulngan City. Fatalities were also recorded in Tayasan, Bindoy, and Jimalalud towns.
The military has readied its assets for rescue and retrieval operations.
Armed Forces spokesman Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr. said two UH1H utility helicopters have been dispatched from Western Mindanao to conduct relief operations in Negros Oriental.
Naval forces from the Armed Forces Central Command have also placed on standby a patrol gunboat for the rescue operations.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) provided relief assistance to families affected and sent social workers to conduct stress debriefing for the victims, particularly in Dumaguete City, which was also hit by tropical storm “Sendong” last year.
Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said the DSWD Region 7 has standby funds of P1.18 million and a stockpile of commodities equivalent to 3,344 family food packs worth P812,157.60. Non-food items worth P3 million are ready for distribution to affected local government units.
Aftershocks
As of yesterday afternoon, Phivolcs said a total of 1,005 aftershocks were recorded. The strongest aftershock recorded so far had a magnitude of 6.2, which occurred at 6 p.m. on Monday, it said.
“Aftershocks can still be expected in the coming days or weeks. We expect aftershocks smaller than the magnitude 6.9 main shock. The larger the magnitude, usually the longer the duration of aftershocks,” Phivolcs director Renato Solidum said.
Solidum said four aftershocks were felt in some parts of Negros Oriental as well as in Iloilo City, and Loboc, Bohol yesterday.
The quakes with magnitudes 3.8, 4.0, 4.0, 3.3 occurred at 12:08 a.m., 7:47 a.m., 12:05 p.m., and 12:25 p.m., respectively.
He said the Negros tremor, the strongest to hit the area since 1948, was caused by movement in an undersea fault.
Science Secretary Mario Montejo has sent a quick response team, headed by Mariton Bornas and Senior Science Specialist Mabel Abigania of Phivolcs, to Negros Oriental to assess the damage.
The team was expected to arrive in Dumaguete yesterday afternoon and conduct post-earthquake assessment.
“The team will evaluate the extent of damage around the Negros-Cebu area, particularly the hazards caused by the earthquake such as landslides, liquefaction, ground rupture, tsunami and other developments in the areas near the epicenter,” Montejo said.
He said the team will also install instruments to gather intensity reports to determine the strength of ground shaking in various areas.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) estimated the infrastructure damage at P265.75 million.
The agency said initial report showed that at least 11 national bridges, constructed in 1990s, along the North Dumaguete Road (NDR) either collapsed or were damaged.
Food and medicine were on standby in the provincial capital of Dumaguete, but the aid could not reach the victims in the villages because of the damaged roads and bridges.
DPWH Undersecretary for Regional Operations Romeo Momo said information given by Region 7 Assistant Director Juvy Cordon showed that the San Jose Bridge and the Pangaluan Bridge collapsed.
The Uyungan Bridge, whose approaches were damaged, is reportedly passable to light vehicles.
Eight other bridges that sustained damage have been closed to motorists, namely the Martelo Bridge, Baterya Bridge, La Libertad Bridge, Timayunan Bridge, Zamora Bridge, Habag Bridge, Jimalalud Bridge, and the Malaiba Bridge.
The Manoto Bridge in Cebu, although damaged, is still passable to motorists.
“About 70 kilometers, from the municipality of Bindoy to the municipality of Vallehermoso, of the 150-kilometer stretch of the Dumaguete North Road have been damaged by the earthquake,” said Momo.
Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson has reportedly ordered the creation of six teams from the central office and another six teams from their regional office to assess the status of the structures in Negros Oriental.
The Department of Health (DOH) said that one of six hospitals in Negros Oriental had sustained cracks and patients at Guihulngan District Hospital were taken out while experts were assessing the structure.
DOH director for Central Visayas Dr. Susana Madarieta gave assurance that the other hospitals – the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital and the district hospitals in Dindoy, Maybais, Bayawan and Siaton – were not damaged by the earthquake.
“We have also deployed personnel to bring antibiotic and medical supplies like intravenous fluid, first-aid kits and hyposol that will be used to treat the drinking water in affected areas. We also distributed body bags for the cadavers,” she said.
The DOH had sent doctors from its regional and central offices to help the doctors attend to patients.
Madarieta said the hospitals in the affected areas have asked for manpower backup because many of their doctors also had their houses damaged by the earthquake.
She said that the DOH has coordinated with the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City for the airlifting of victims who may need “tertiary care.” – With Evelyn Macairan, Sheila Crisostomo, Garry Lao, Eva Visperas, AP - By Alexis Romero and Helen Flores (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)
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