(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte promised to release P2 billion in aid and rehabilitation money for quake-hit Surigao del Norte, including the aid and relief money for the quake victims during his visit to the province on Sunday, February 12, following Friday’s 6.7 magnitude tremor that left at least six people dead and over 200 injured.
The President flew to the province to personally oversee the relief and rehabilitation efforts being done by the government.
Duterte flew to the region on Sunday to inspect the response effort, which officials said has shifted to relief and rehabilitation after the last of the dead and injured were pulled from the rubble.
“I will release money for you, so prioritize those who lost their lives and source of living,” he said.
Aside from livelihood programs, the Chief Executive also vowed to provide housing to earthquake victims.
The President was accompanied by a military transport plane loaded with generator sets, solar lamps, high-energy biscuits, mosquito nets and blankets for the displaced residents.
Duterte witnessed the ceremonial distribution of family food packs and burial assistance to some of the victims by Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Judy Taguiwalo.
The President also delivered a message to the residents at the Surigao City Hall Gymnasium, Surigao City, commiserating with the quake survivors, and expressing his sincere condolences to those whose relatives and friends were killed in the quake. As of the latest tally, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) listed the names of four fatalities. They are Robert Eludo Jr., 40 years old; JM Ariar, 4 years old; Lito Wilson, 36 years old; and Lorenzo Dequino, 86 years old. All of the identified fatalities were from Surigao City.
“I am very sorry, we know that sometimes, life here on Earth, like what Ecclesiastes [says] in the Bible, that all that is happening in the world has time, we have a time to be sad, time to be happy, feast, celebration… we have a time for sadness,” Duterte said.
For Filipinos who cannot afford to buy medicines, just go to DSWD, to [Secretary] Judy Taguiwalo,” Duterte said.
Aside from Taguiwalo, the President was accompanied by some of his Cabinet men including Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, Education Secretary Leonor Briones, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi and Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar.
About 230 families were affected by the strong quake, based on data from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMC).
It also indicated that estimated cost of damages in infrastructure has reached P601.8 million.
Surigao City, the hardest hit area, had been placed under a state of calamity.
Because of damage to the water pipeline, the water system in Surigao City is still inoperable as the water district was still trying to fix damaged pipes.
The water districts have distributed firetrucks to provide water to the victims, but this was not enough. Meanwhile, some residents who have electric water pumps offered to give their water for free to their neighbors.
Rehabilitation funding for Surigao City is pegged at P69.8 million, which includes restoration of national roads and bridges, repair of irrigation canals and water system, rehabilitation of public buildings, burial assistance, rice/food packs, and medicines.
Aftershocks continue to rock Surigao City and the surrounding areas, with the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) recording more aftershocks in the province Sunday night until early dawn.
In fact, early morning Monday, a 4.1 magnitude aftershock was recorded at 3:51 a.m. Before that, there were also several aftershocks all through the night, including a 4.0 magnitude aftershock that was recoded 11:01 p.m. Sunday,
The state seismology office recorded more than 130 weaker quakes in Surigao, a city of 152,000 people, and in the predominantly agricultural region around it since the quake struck, though there were no additional reports of casualties or damage.
“The people are terrified about the aftershocks,” Romina Marasigan, spokeswoman for the government’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council told reporters.
“This was the first time Surigao had suffered a quake this strong. The previous one occurred in the 1800s,” President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Martin Andanar, a native of the region, said over government radio.
Early on Sunday, long lines of people carrying pails and jugs queued for water rations supplied by fire trucks after the quake cut off tap water supply.
The quake also damaged bridges and roads and knocked out the power supply, though electricity was restored in most of Surigao on Saturday.
Surigao City disaster officials said there would be no classes on Monday, February 13, as they would still assess the damage left by the quake in the school.
The Surigao City airport is still closed up to now because of the damaged runway, while vessels and port operations in Lipata Port Station have been transferred to Surigao City Port.
There is total blackout in five towns in Surigao del Norte, namely the municipalities of San Francisco, Malimono, Placer, Sison and Taganaan.
Electricity was restored in Surigao City on Saturday night, at 8:30 p.m.
But water systems are still damaged in the city, as well as in three other towns – San Francisco, Malimono and Mainit.
At least 1,034 houses were reported damaged because of the quake in Surigao del Norte province, with 155 houses reported to be totally damaged.
A total of 12 school faciltiies in Surigao del Norte were reported to have been damaged, while several damaged insfrastructure were reported in Surigao del Norte and Dinagat.
An average of five earthquakes, most of them undetectable except through instruments, hit daily across the Philippines, which lies on the so-called Ring of Fire, a vast Pacific Ocean region where many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.
The last lethal quake that hit the country measured 7.1-magnitude. It left over 220 people dead and destroyed historic churches when it struck the central islands in October 2013. (with a report from Agence France Presse)
