MAGSAYSAY, Davao del Sur – It took Francisco Quidato three years to build his new house using his earnings from his farm and half of the P3,200 cash he receives from the conditional cash transfer program of the government.
But it only took about 20 seconds of the magnitude-6.3 earthquake on Oct. 16 to reduce his 40-square meter house into rubble.
Quidato, a father of two, said that they were supposed to move into their new house before this year ends.
“We are supposed to install some lumbers for the rooms next week but this earthquake happened and I don’t know if I can rebuild this again,” he said in the local dialect.
Quidato is just one of the at least 395 families who totally lost their houses to the strong tremor, according to this town’s information officer Anthony Allada.
As of 2 p.m. yesterday, Allada disclosed that 1,144 houses were partially damaged and at least 980 individuals have evacuated to safer grounds.
In the mountainous village of Malawanit, some 10 kilometers away from the town proper, more than 50 families fled their homes after massive cracks and landslides appeared after the earthquake.
Some of the cracks, which cut across the populated area, were at least a foot wide while cornfields in some sloping areas have sank at least four feet deep.
Near the foot of this sloping area, a family was buried alive after a portion of the mountain collapsed on Wednesday night. Responders were able to rescue the father and one of the children from the massive landslide, but the 22-year-old mother and a nine-month old baby never made it.
In the neighboring village of Bacungan, several houses along the road leading to Malawanit have been totally destroyed. Most of these houses were a combination of concrete and light materials.
Resident Gemma Revilla said she was in her neighbor’s house when the tremor hit that brought down the roof of their bedroom and kitchen.
“We were about to sleep me and my son were in my neighbor’s house because we were supposed to use their Internet line to have video call with my husband working abroad,” Revilla recalled, adding that had they went inside their bedroom, they would have been hit by the collapsed roof.
About 10 meters away, the newly built house of his brother, also an Overseas Filipino Worker, totally collapsed. “He was sending money to build that house so that his family would have a new house once he returns from abroad. But now it’s gone,” she lamented.
Following the earthquake, residents felt dozens of aftershocks, prompting the villagers in the mountainous area to evacuate near the school and spent a night under the mango trees instead of inside the classrooms.
“We feel safe here rather than inside the classrooms because we are afraid that the building might collapse due to series of aftershocks,” one of the elderly residents said.
Some residents pitched tents outside their homes after their houses were destroyed or partially damaged.
The Department of Education has directed the immediate inspection of buildings, classrooms, and other school facilities to assess the damage in the aftermath of the earthquake.
In its latest education cluster update, DepEd said six regions (Regions 9, 10, 11, 12, Caraga, and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao; 27 divisions; 6,512 schools, and 3, 261, 823 learners were affected by the earthquake.
As of Oct. 17, DepEd said three regions (11, 12, and the BARMM) have suspended classes on all levels, affecting a total of 1,989, 260 learners in 3,873 schools in 17 divisions. (Keith Bacongco)