Rescuers dig to reach trapped in Visayas quake

Monday, February 6, 2012

CEBU CITY (8th Update, 6:50 p.m.) -- Dozens of people remain trapped under houses that collapsed after a series of earthquakes hit the Visayas Monday, leaving rescuers digging with picks and shovels to reach the victims.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) placed the death toll to 7, while other reports said 13 people have died after the 6.9-magnitude quake that struck Negros and Cebu provinces at 11:49 a.m. Monday.

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The 6.9-magnitude quake was followed by nine other tremors; the latest of which occurred at 6:10 p.m. two kilometers northwest of Tayasan, Negros Oriental. The latest earthquake had a magnitude of 6.2 and depth of seven kilometers.

The quakes damaged buildings and set off landslides that buried dozens of houses, trapping residents. Forty people are believed missing as of this posting, most of them living along the shore near the epicenter of the 6.9-magnitude quake.

In the mountain village of Planas, 9 miles (15 kilometers) from coastal Guihulngan town in Negros Oriental province, as many as 30 houses were buried with at least 40 residents believed trapped, said Governor Roel Degamo.

"Their situation is bad because if you are covered by landslide for one hour, two hours, how can you breathe?" Mayor Ernesto Reyes said. "But we just hope for the best, that there are still survivors."

Army troops and police were deployed to help in the rescue.

At least 10 people were confirmed dead in Guihulngan, including students at a college and an elementary school and others in a town market that collapsed, Reyes said. About 100 were injured.

Landslide also occurred in the mountain village of Solongon in La Libertad town, also in Negros Oriental. An unknown number of people were trapped, said La Libertad police chief inspector Eric Arrol Besario.

"We're now getting shovels and chain saws to start a rescue because there were people trapped inside. Some of them were yelling for help earlier," Besario told The Associated Press by phone. Three key bridges in the town cracked and were no longer passable, he said.

Food and medicines were waiting in the provincial capital of Dumaguete, but the aid could not reach the villages in need because of damaged roads and bridges.

"There is a Canadian and an Indian doctor who are here for an earlier scheduled medical mission and it's good that they are helping us," said Reyes. "They have some medicines with them but that may not be enough."

Photos courtesy of Dennis Ortega, Mark John Buenconsejo, Khristianie Lauta Cornelio, Fred Baa, Lloyd Anthony Garcia and Iloilo-PIO

Nine bridges were damaged in Negros Oriental, including four that were not passable, said Governor Degamo. The worst damage was concentrated in the province's mountainous northern portion, he said.

Philippine seismologists briefly issued a tsunami alert for the central islands. Huge waves washed out five bamboo and wooden cottages from a beach resort in La Libertad, but there were no reports of injuries, said police Superintendent Ernesto Tagle.

In Cebu City, panic enveloped the city due to tsunami scare brought by reports of rising seawater after the earthquake. Elsewhere along the coast, people rushed out of schools, malls and offices.

Sun.Star traced the reports on the rise of seawater in the coastal village of Ermita in Cebu City. Alejandro Galledo of Barangay Ermita said seawaters rose after a fast-craft passed by the area.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) lowered the tsunami alert at 2:30 p.m. after the threat of one-meter waves has dissipated.

"There is no more threat of unusual waves. There was no evacuation at alert level 2 and what was advised was for people to stay away from the shoreline and for people with houses near the coast to be watchful," Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum told Sun.Star.

Benito Ramos, head of the Office of Civil Defense, said two people died in another town close to the epicenter, Tayasan, including a child when a concrete fence of a house collapsed.

Another child was killed in a church when a wall collapsed during a funeral in Negros Oriental's Jimalalud town, Mayor Reynaldo Tuanda said.

Tayasan police officer Alfred Vicente Silvosa told AP by phone that aftershocks were preventing people from returning to their homes.

"We are outside, at the town plaza. We cannot inspect buildings yet because it's dangerous," Silvosa said. "I felt the building shaking, so I rushed out of the building. Our computers, shelves, plates, the cupboards, water dispenser all fell."

A three-story office building also collapsed in La Libertad, but occupants escaped.

Negros Oriental police chief Edward Carranza said the temblor damaged many houses in Guihulngan and he ordered his men to help displaced residents find shelter.

Officials in some areas, including Cebu City, suspended work and canceled classes. Power and telecommunications were knocked out in several places.

Carranza said police rushed out of his building when the quake struck. "All my personnel ran out fearing our building would collapse," he said.

"Now it's shaking again," he said as an aftershock hit. "My keychain is dancing."

The US Geological Survey said the 6.9-magnitude quake was centered 44 miles (72 kilometers) north of Dumaguete City on Negros and hit at a depth of 29 miles (46 kilometers). The area is about 400 miles (650 kilometers) southeast of the capital, Manila.

The Philippines is in the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common. A 7.7-magnitude quake killed nearly 2,000 people in Luzon in 1990. (AP/Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)