8 dead, dozens injured in Batanes quakes
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Sat, 27 Jul 2019 16:09:41 +0000
Eight persons were killed and dozens injured when a series of earthquakes struck islands in the northern Philippines early Saturday, toppling historic buildings and sending terrified locals fleeing from their homes.
The tremors hit the province of Batanes, a group of sparsely populated islets north of the nation’s largest Luzon island, tearing deep cracks in roads and forcing the evacuation of a hospital.
Authorities said some of the dead, including two babies under a year old, were crushed by the walls of their own homes.
“We saw houses shaking. Some of the walls of the houses collapsed and fell on the victims,” Sgt. Uzi Villa told Agence France-Presse.
“Some people died because they were sleeping soundly since it was still early,” Villa said.
Many people were still asleep when the first tremor struck at 4:15 a.m., followed just under four hours later by a second, stronger jolt.
The biggest of the quakes — of magnitude 5.4 and 5.9 — struck within hours of each other, according to the US Geological Survey.
At least three aftershocks followed, which prompted edgy locals to spend hours in town squares, waiting for the string of quakes to end.
Authorities said two people were reported missing, though they had not completed a search of the area because debris was blocking some roads.
Raul de Sagon, mayor of worst-hit Itbayat town, said eight people had been killed and around 100 others were hurt, including seven serious cases that had to be flown out.
Itbayat’s hospital was damaged and patients had to be wheeled to safety, while at least one high school and the town’s 19th-century church were heavily damaged.
Batanes is pounded every year by tropical cyclones and typhoons, and homes are built of stone to survive the annual onslaught.
“We always experience typhoons, so houses here are made to withstand strong winds,” de Sagon said. “But we were not prepared for earthquakes such as this.”
The Philippines is part of the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches from quake-prone Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
The country’s most recent deadly quake occurred in April, when at least 11 persons were killed and a supermarket collapsed in a 6.3-magnitude tremor that hit Central Luzon, north of the capital Manila.
According to Ricardo Jalad, executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), the Armed Forces of the Philippines had dispatched an aircraft from Villamor Air Base in Pasay City to pick up personnel and goods from Cauayan City, Isabela and Tuguegarao City, Cagayan.
The NDRRMC has advised the people to stay outdoors in plazas and multipurpose halls to be safe from aftershocks.
No tsunami alert was raised by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to visit Batanes, Malacañang confirmed also on Saturday as it assured the public that relief operations in the earthquake-affected areas “are going on and in full swing.”
“I am sure he will visit. Various agencies already acted right after the earthquakes,” Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said in a text message when asked if the President would be visiting Batanes in the wake of the earthquakes.
“Our PAF (Philippine Air Force) C295 already took off for Batanes at 9:18 a.m., bringing medical and rescue teams. We are planning for [the] next sortie in coordination with Region 2 (Cagayan Valley) OCD (Office of Civil Defense),” he added.
Medialdea said the transport plane would pick up Batanes Gov. Marilou Cayco in Basco, who would also pay a visit to the town of Itbayat, which was hardest hit by the series of earthquakes.
Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo assured the public that the Office of the President was closely monitoring the situation in Batanes.
“Responsible instrumentalities of the national government, such as the Office of the Civil Defense, are continuously coordinating with distressed local government units, including the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in Batanes, as relief operations are going on and in full swing,” Panelo said in a statement.
“The President has been briefed on the situation and he directed all agencies to respond and undertake measures to provide assistance to the victims of this force majeure and rehabilitate the damaged properties in the areas,” he added.
The Palace official asked affected constituents to remain calm, vigilant and cooperative with government response and relief teams.
“With risk reduction measures at place, the government has prepared itself to react quickly to disaster occurrences like earthquakes, while we commit our best to saving maximum lives and properties during such situations and bringing normalcy back in the soonest possible time,” Panelo said.
AFP WITH DARWIN PESCO AND CATHERINE S. VALENTE
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