Tremor death toll rises to 16

At least 16 persons were con­firmed dead while authorities are racing against time to rescue more people who are believed to have been trapped inside a four-storey establishment that collapsed in Porac, Pampanga during Monday’s 6.1 magnitude earthquake.

Most of the fatalities are in Porac which is considered as the hardest-hit area when a strong tremor shook Central Luzon and Metro Manila—12 of the total 15 fatalities are from the town.

“There are 14 deaths in the entire Pampanga. Twelve are from Porac and two are from Lubao,” said Angelina Blanco, head of the Pampanga Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.

Five of the fatalities are from the Chuzon supermarket which collapsed in Porac while seven are from various barangays of Porac, including the upland areas of the town. Another fatality was reported in Angeles City.

Blanco said they are still trying to come up with an exact data as to how many people were inside the four-storey building which housed the Chuzon supermarket in Porac.

“We still do not have the exact figure but according to the Human Resources office of Chuzon, there were 92 employees who reported for work on Monday,” said Blanco in an interview over dzBB.

“But we were also told that a number of them were able to go out before the collapse of the building,” he added.

Aside from the employees, there are also a number supermarket go­ers when the earthquake struck.

It was learned that the 3rd and 4th floors of the building serve as the sleeping quarters of the employ­ees, the second floor as the storage room and the ground floor was the supermarket.

RJ Magno, information officer of the National Disaster Risk Re­duction and Management Council (NDRRMC), said that there are at least 30 people who were believed to have been trapped inside the building.

The latest data they received, he said, is that there were only 24 miss­ing since rescue teams were able to rescue some of them and retrieved the cadavers of some.

Magno said search and rescue operations are still ongoing at the collapsed building in Porac.

There are 81 reported injured in the entire Central Luzon, according to Magno.

Maj. Gen. Lenard Agustin, com­manding general of the 7th Infantry Division, said they have already sent a number of engineering units in Porac to help in the search and rescue operations.

He said there are also special equipment deployed in the area in order to expedite the operation and to determine the location of the trapped people inside the collapsed building.

“Apparently there are signs of life. We have K9 units there and the dogs are continuously barking. It’s an indication of the presence of life,” said Agustin.

“We are hoping that we will be able to rescue more victims. We have enough rescuers there al­ready,” he added.

While the epicenter of the earth­quake was located in Castillejos town of Zambales, there were minimal damage in the province compared to what happened in Pampanga.

Only one casualty was reported in the entire province of Zambales, a six-year old boy who was hit by fall­ing rocks in San Marcelino town.

Gracie Macabare, head of the Zambales Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO), said that victim Waring Serrano died due to massive head injury in Barangay Buhawen in San Marcelino town.

“We are thankful that the earth­quake did not leave big destructions and casualties in the province even if the epicenter was in Castillejos,” said Macabare.

At the height of the 6.1 magni­tude quake on Monday, a landslide occurred at Mt. Bimmukel in Sitio Lomibao in Barangay Buhawen, according to Macabare.

“At least 120 families were evac­uated in the affected areas as a result of the landslide,” Macabare said in a phone interview.

A minor landslide was also re­ported in Barangay Aglao also in San Marcelino town while a minor damage was seen on a creek canal in Barangay Burgos of the same town.

“All municipal DRRMOs were in­structed to conduct assessment in their areas,” said Macabare.

She said Gov. Amor Deloso has already suspended classes in both public and private schools as well as government works.

“This is to give way to the inspec­tion of all structures following the earthquake that hit the province,” said Macabare.

In its latest update yesterday, the NDRRMC said there were at least 22 buildings and infrastruc­tures damaged by the quake in Central Luzon and Metro Manila, including the Clark International Airport.

The provinces of La Union, Pan­gasinan, Pampanga and Bataan suffered power outage after the quake but the electricity supply was already stored in almost all the affected areas, according to the NDRRMC.