LARGE parts of central Philippines remained without power days after a 6.5-magnitude quake shook the region and killed two people, authorities said Saturday.
Power plant facilities in the central island of Leyte, which provide electricity for the island and neighboring regions, sustained damage when the quake struck on Thursday, an Energy department statement said.
The geothermal plants, near the quake’s epicenter, were damaged by both the tremors and resulting landslides, the department said.
Much of Leyte and the surrounding islands of Samar and Bohol were without power on Saturday as repairs were still being conducted, Energy Undersecretary Wimpy Fuentabella said.
“In three to 10 days, we will see a tremendous improvement in ensuring that there will be basic electrical service available,” he said in a television interview.
A statement from the Lopez-family owned EDC, the country’s largest operator of geothermal power plants in the country, the damage caused by the earthquake has shut down its facilities, which it said, may resume operations in at least a week.“The Tongonan Geothermal Power Plant Unit 1 may not be operational for some time due to cooling tower damage. Unit 2 [35 MW] may be operational in the next seven to 10 days as tests on the unit and the main transformer as well as cooling tower repair need to be performed,” the EDC said in a statement.
“Our team of contractors has been mobilized to work 24/7, safety considerations permitting, to complete the assessment and accelerate return to service,” it added.
All power plants in Leyte operated by the EDC also remain shut as it has yet to clear landslide debris and repair damaged parts, the company said.
“EDC could have about 317 MW of power restored to Leyte within the next 10 days,” the statement read.
EDC officials said they plan to connect their stations “to the 230 kV line to Luzon” as soon as their marshalling station is repaired in three to five days.
The EDC said it expects the following power plants to be repaired between 5 and 10 days:
• Upper Mahiao plant (132 MW)
• Malitbog power plant Units 1 and 2 (150 MW)
• Malitbog power plant Unit 3
Since Thursday, power supply in parts of the Visayas has been intermittent after power lines were damaged by the quake that struck the town of Jaro, Leyte.
Leyte, home to some 1.75 million people, bore the brunt of the quake, recording two deaths and 72 injuries.
The Philippines lies on the so-called Ring of Fire, a vast Pacific Ocean region where many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.
In February, a 6.5-magnitude quake killed eight people and left more than 250 injured outside the southern city of Surigao.
The following month a 5.9-magnitude tremor killed one person.
Before the Surigao disasters, the last fatal earthquake to hit the country was a 7.1-magnitude quake that left more than 220 people dead and destroyed historic churches in the central islands in October 2013.
Meanwhile, commercial operations has resumed at the Ormoc Airport following the repair of a damaged runway caused by a 6.5-magnitude quake that hit the province of Leyte on July 6, the aviation authority announced on Saturday.
Authorities said the facility resumed its services at 6 a.m. yesterday after they declared that the runway was usable and safe for aircraft flight operations. The resumption came two days after it was hit by the tremor damaging both ends of runway 36 and 18.
Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines chief information officer and spokesman Eric Apolonio said the Ormoc airport is back to normal, as all turbo aircraft now can land and take off after the Department of Transportation completed its inspection and repair.
He added that the terminal is also opened after paintings of displaced threshold markings to warn aircrafts of the damaged portions of the runway was also completed.
Coring test on the runway and sub surface soil exploration survey was conducted by technical team from CAAP and DOTr.
Reports said the strong shaking caused cracks in some buildings and roads in the city and power was automatically shut off.
Apolonio added that right after the earthquake, CAAP airport manager VIII Danilo Abareta reported immediately to the main headquarters that engineers are inspecting the cracks in both ends of the runway.
Abareta, in his initial assessment report to CAAP Operations Rescue and Coordinating Center, said the Calbayog, Catarman and Tacloban airports, which are operating regular commercial flights, are in normal condition.
Other airport facilities being supervised by CAAP Vlll in Leyte are Biliran, Borongan, Catbalogan, Guiuan, Hilongos and Maasin.
Meanwhile, the Cebu Pacific Air management decided to suspend its flight operations to and from Cebu and Ormoc from July 7-9, 2017 “in light of the reported damage caused by an earthquake in Leyte.”
Affected passengers were advised to avail of any of the following options, without penalties: Rebook their flights for travel within 30 days from original departure date; or reroute their flights to alternate stations within 30 days from original departure date; or opt for full refund or travel fund. With AFP, PNA