Local News: Negros Rocks at 6.9 Leaving 12 Dead; Panic Intensity Very High; Ceneco and Baciwa Urge Public to Report Damages Immediately
Nightmares caused by the Fukushima tsunami disaster must have been fresh in mind as thousands all over the urban Visayas took the streets while others headed for higher grounds but most unfortunate was the seven fatalities reported in national television 6:45 last night while other local reporters counted 12 unconfirmed dead caused by an intensity 6.9 tectonic quake affecting the Visayas and parts of Mindanao.
Cebu likewise was hit with the same quake magnitude and aerial shot of people in an “Exodus” proportion was posted in You Tube.
Bacolod City reportedly experienced an intensity 6.0 quake, five aftershocks were felt as of this writing (50 was officially reported); the tremors are doubly magnified inside buildings and the sights of swinging electricity lamp posts outside added to panic-anxieties, people flocking the streets are manifesting stressed symptoms.
Central Negros Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Ceneco) and the Bacolod City Water District (BACIWA) assured the public of uninterrupted services but urged them to report damages immediately without hesitation.
Head of Office of Civil Defense and chief of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) Undersecretary Benito Ramos reported the confirmed seven dead last night mostly in the municipalities of Negros Oriental while discounting areas where he has no direct access for now, reason why the discrepancy with local reports.
In subsequent reports late last night, the number of dead persons have risen to 12 with 40 missing all in Guihulngan, due to landslides, with 8 dead also in Guihulngan. The other casualties as confirmed by the Negros Oriental Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council were aside from Guihulngan with 8, Tayasan 2, Jimalalud and Bindoy, one each.
Most of the seven fatalities were confirmed reports from Negros Oriental; the Municipality of Tayasan in Negros Oriental reported the death of a child when a concrete fence of a house collapsed, Ramos added.
San Carlos City, which is a component city of Negros Occidental, reported sightings of “minor sea level changes” and a reported “advancing sea water” swallowing five cottages owned by Commendador Beach Resort in La Libertad, Negros Oriental prompted the Philippine Institute for Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) to raise Tsunami alert number 2.
The Tsunami alert was later lifted as more panic movements especially in San Carlos City was reported.
Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo, over Aksyon Radyo, reported eight damaged bridges three of these are now impassable; these are bridges in Jimalalud, La Libertad and Guihulngan, the destruction of these bridges could affect economic activity in the province.
Landslide in Barangay Planas, Guihulngan was experienced according to Degamo, feared to have caused 20 dead and 29 missing according to one report.*
