Negros Quake Death Toll Reaches 48, Survivors Beg for Help

Negros Quake Death Toll Reaches 48, Survivors Beg for Help

The death toll from the magnitude 6.9 quake that hit Negros Oriental Monday, February 6, as of yesterday, February 8, reached 48 while 92 are still missing according to Col. Francisco Zosimo Patrimonio Jr., commander of the Army’s 302nd Brigade based in the province.

The official death toll from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, (NDRRMC) however, is lower, at 22, including seven new fatalities.

NDRRMC Executive Director Benito Ramos, who is in Negros Oriental, said the seven new fatalities died in hospitals where they were brought after they were pinned down by collapsed walls.

Ramos also said the number of missing remain at 71 – mostly victims of landslides in Guihulngan City, which is near the epicenter of the quake, and La Libertad town.




Meanwhile, survivors begged rescuers to keep searching for dozens of people buried in landslides, but officials said hopes of finding them alive were dim.

“Please do not give up, please continue searching,” 47-year-old housewife Virginsita Magalso whose 68-year-old mother, an older brother, his wife, and their two young children were among those buried when part of a hill collapsed on homes in the farming community of La Libertad on Negros.

“We can still save them, miracles happen all the time.”

Guihulngan Mayor Ernesto Reyes said the mountain village in Guihulngan was buried under about 10 meters (30 feet) of debris, with rescue efforts painfully slow because people had only picks, shovels and their bare hands to claw through the dirt.

Roads and bridges to Guihulngan, a coastal city of about 100,000 flanked by mountains, were badly damaged in the quake, meaning rescuers had difficulties bringing in earth movers and supplies for survivors.

“Our immediate concern now is how to serve the living. We don’t have enough food, there is no electricity and water,” Reyes said.

“We are appealing for help from everyone.”

Roel Degamo, the governor of Negros Oriental province where the worst of the damage occurred, said the likelihood of finding anyone alive was very low.

“We are in a state of shock, and all we can do now for those still missing is to pray,” Degamo said.

Sources: Malaya, PDI