The death toll from a major earthquake centered in the northern Philippines rose to 10 Friday after another four bodies were found in the rubble, authorities said, as aftershocks continued to rock the mountainous region.
Rescuers in the town of Luba in the hardest hit province of Abra retrieved the remains of the men on a section of road that was buried by a landslide during Wednesday’s 7.0-magnitude quake, the provincial civil defense office told Agence-France Presse.
Landslides and collapsing structures killed six others in Abra and nearby provinces, authorities had said previously. More than 150 people were injured.
This developed as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday told the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to prioritize the inspection of hospitals and health care facilities in Abra following the magnitude 7 earthquake that jolted the province Wednesday.
During a visit to the province, Marcos checked on the condition of the Abra Provincial Hospital and its patients.
More than a thousand aftershocks have been recorded since the quake hit, the state seismology office said Friday.
“Let’s go first to the hospitals, let’s go first to the clinics, the health care centers… then we can then go look at the government buildings after which we can [go to] residential areas [to see] if they are safe,” he said.
The Department of Health (DOH) reported that 54 health care facilities have been damaged by the quake. This included eight hospitals, 28 rural health units, and 18 barangay health stations.
The Department of Education (DepEd) also said there are now 226 damaged buildings from the 9,539 schools affected by the earthquake that would need about P1.3 billion for their rehabilitation or reconstruction, according to its updated field report.
Based on the latest Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service (DRRMS) information, the 226 damaged schools were from Cordillera Administrative Region with 132, Ilocos Region with 49, Cagayan Valley Region with 25, Central Luzon Region with 18, and 1 school respectively from Calabarzon Region and National Capital Region.
In these schools, 422 classrooms were “totally damaged” while 636 classrooms were “partially major damaged,” DepEd added in a statement.
At the same time, the President underscored the need to procure more water purifying systems to solve supply problems during disasters.
“One of the things that we have found useful in all of the disasters is the water supply, there is a need to procure more water purifying systems that will address supply problems during disasters,” he said.
“We should procure more of those because immediately water is always going to be a problem.”
The President ordered the immediate restoration of water systems, saying this was even more important than communications and power.
Abra Vice Governor Maria Jocelyn Bernos reported that soil movement may have caused problems in the province’s water system lines.
The Office of Civil Defense-Cordillera Administrative Region (OCD-CAR) said the whole province of Abra needs 300,000 bottles of drinking water.
Senator Imee Marcos said she would send a purifier to Abra province.
“We’ve found in Ilocos Norte that those are very helpful. You don’t have the disposal of plastic and all the other issues that surround distilled water,” she said.
The President said the government could source the water purifying system from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that also provided the device when super typhoon Yolanda struck in 2013.
DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan said the partial cost of damage to roads and bridges was P396.58 million.
He broke this down to P104.53 million for national roads and P292.05 million for national bridges in the Cordillera Administrative Region, and Regions 1 and 2.
Five remaining impassable road sections in CAR and Region 1 are still being cleared by the DPWH Quick Response Teams namely: Lubuagan-Batong Buhay Road in Colong, Lower Uma, Lubuagan, in Kalinga Province, due to landslide and rock collapse; Baguio – Bontoc Road Mt. Province, Tagudin – Cervantes Road in Ilocos Sur; Santiago-Banayoyo-Lidlidda-San Emilio-Quirino Road Ilocos Sur and Cervantes-Aluling-Bontoc Road Brgy. Aluling, Cervantes, Ilocos Sur.
Military helicopters were flying food aid and other emergency supplies to the region, where nearly 5,000 people remained in evacuation centers, the social welfare department said.
Crews of workers braved aftershocks to clear debris blocking key roads in the region.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development-Cordillera Administrative Region (DSWD-CAR) said the quake destroyed 28 houses and damaged 2,362 others.
DSWD-CAR Director Arnel Garcia said the number could still go up as the assessment is still ongoing and authorities have yet to check on the outlying barrios.
This developed as provincial officials said evacuation centers were set up in open areas in the province.
DOST Undersecretary and Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology officer-in-charge Renato Solidum Jr. said residents could go back to their homes once inspections show that structures are safe.
Solidum, however, warned that aftershocks are expected to continue for several weeks.
“People should be ready how to respond properly during aftershocks,” he added.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said the number of reported fatalities due to the earthquake increased to six.
A total of 79,260 people or 19,486 families in 246 barangays in Ilocos and CAR were affected by the earthquake, the NDRRMC said.
It added that about 5,819 people or 1,622 families were staying in 26 evacuation centers, while 1,512 persons or 360 families were staying outside evacuation centers.
A total of 1,583 homes were damaged by the quake — 1,535 partially and 48 totally — in Ilocos and CAR.
The NDRRMC also said around P48.3 million worth of damage has been reported in Ilocos, Cagayan, and CAR.
The National Irrigation Administration reported P4.5 million worth of damage, the NDRRMC said, while the Department of Agriculture reported over P3.8 million worth of damage in CAR.
The quake occurred at 8:43 a.m. on July 27, with its epicenter in Abra. It was felt in Metro Manila.
A spokesman for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said power supply has largely been restored in affected areas except those that sustained major damage.
The NDRRMC’s priority is to provide food, water, and other necessities to affected persons, Timbal said. It has so far released P400,000 worth of assistance, he said.
“Our government has signified there are standby funds ready to be provided to local government units in case they would need augmented funding,” he said.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said
more than 1,000 aftershocks have been recorded so far after the
magnitude 7 earthquake in Abra.
In an update to the July 27 northwestern Luzon earthquake, Phivolcs said a total of 1,071 aftershocks have been detected in the affected areas as of 10 a.m.
In other developments:
Rep. Howard Guintu of the Pinuno party-list group on Friday urged government agencies to enforce the price freeze on essential goods in areas declared to be under a state of calamity.
The DOH said it would extend assistance by sending trucks carrying 20 tents, 200 cot beds, hygiene kits, medicine, and other supplies in quake-affected areas. Some medical teams from Ilocos Training and Regional Medical Center and Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center have also been deployed.
The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development has activated local shelter cluster teams in earthquake-affected areas in Luzon. Assistant Secretary Melissa Aradana, HDSUD officer in charge, directed the agency’s regional offices 1,2 and Cordillera Administrative Region to immediately convene their shelter clusters to
closely monitor updates and respond to the needs of victims for housing assistance. The activation of shelter clusters in Ilocos, Cagayan Valley and Cordillera followed the directive of President Marcos to expedite government assistance to the affected families.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian filed a bill seeking a moratorium on the payment of all fees, charges, and rental costs of residential units in times of disasters and other kinds of emergencies. Gatchalian also wants a moratorium on eviction when there is a state of calamity or emergency.
Photos by Dave Leprozo and Abra PNP