WHEN his wife did not return home on Sunday morning after going to a grocery store, Fructuso Artiaga already knew that she could have been one of the trapped victims inside the collapsed Southgreen Commercial building in Padada.
Fructuso Artiaga of Sulop, Davao del Sur, was calm when he claimed yesterday the body of his wife, Evangelyn Artiaga, who was among the victims trapped inside the three-storey building which was severely damaged on Sunday following the 6.9 magnitude earthquake in Padada, Davao del Sur.
In an interview with Fructuso, he narrated that on Saturday, his wife informed him that she will go to the Southern Trade Shopping Center, which is located at the Southgreen Commercial building. His wife is a loyal customer in that store. When the tremor shook Davao del Sur, he just didn’t mind it at first, assuming that his wife is safe. In the afternoon, he learned that the merchandising store collapsed.
But when his wife failed to return home on Saturday evening, he already had a hunch that something might have happened to her. On Sunday morning, his wife still did not come home. This made him decide to proceed to the area to check on the situation. It was only there when he found out that his wife was among the victims of the collapsed commercial building.
The operatives of the Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco) presented to him the documents and possessions of his wife including the identification cards, cellphone, bag, among others.
A calm but clearly grieving Fructuso faced the media and said he has accepted the fate of his wife.
Evangeline was among the first two bodies that were retrieved from the collapsed building during the search and retrieval operations.
In a report from the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Davao del Sur, the first body from the collapsed building was retrieved around 2 a.m. on Monday, and another body was recovered around 8:00 a. m. on the same day.
According to the Office of the Civil Defense in Davao Region (OCD-Davao) as of 4 p.m. yesterday December 16, 2019, the Search, Rescue, and Retrieval operation are still ongoing since there was no definite number on how many were trapped inside the building.
The operation was conducted by SAR Teams from Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), 39th Infantry Battalion (IB), PDRRMO Davao del Sur, and CDRRMO Davao City.
The City Government of Davao has also deployed on Sunday night a team from Central 911 to assist in the operations. Central 911 head Emmanuel Jaldon said the collapsed structure search and rescue (CSSR) task force is composed of 66 personnel from Urban Search and Rescue (Usar), Emergency Medical Service, Fire Auxiliary Services, and Emed.
Red alert
The Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Management Center (RDRRMC) Davao operations center has raised its alert level status from Blue to Red Alert and currently coordinating with the local DRRMCs for closely monitoring of damages and casualties in the area of responsibility.
Based on the report from the Davao del Sur Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMC) provided by Christopher Tan, the death toll has gone up to five following the recovery of two individuals from the building.
The first reported death was a 6-year-old girl in Matanao identified as Cherbel Chime M. Gador; a senior citizen named Carlito Ibon, 80, a resident of Hagonoy and Juliana D. Cagas, 80 from Matanao who both died due to heart attack. Six are still missing but subject for validation.
PDRRMC report further showed that as per the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), there have been a total of 179 aftershocks were recorded as of 6:00 p.m. on December 15.
An earthquake-induced landslide incident was also reported in Barangay Kimlawis and Barangay Tacub in Kiblawan, Davao del Sur along the roadside. As of yesterday, the roads are passable only to light vehicles.
OCD-Davao has yet to release a consolidated report on the number of affected families and damaged structures.
However, based on the data of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Davao Region (DSWD-Davao), 8,424 families have been affected by the earthquake in Matanao, Davao del Sur. There are also 3,097 partially damaged houses and 1,104 totally damaged in 20 of the 33 barangays of Matanao.
In a report by the Philippine Information Agency in Davao Region (PIA-Davao), Matanao Mayor Vincent Fernandez said that almost all 33 barangays have reported that their barangay halls, gyms, health centers and some houses totally collapsed.
He disclosed that the LGU’s office buildings such as the municipal hall, ABC hall, senior citizens’ building and the Land Bank satellite building incurred major damages.
The mayor also said that some concrete roads sustained cracks, and that there were landslides occurrences in the hinterland barangays.
Some barangay officials also complained discoloration of their potable water because the water systems were damaged, and that some reported that their water source dried up.
Hagonoy also declared a state of calamity following the earthquake. (With reports from PIA 11)