Aquino government attends to needs of earthquake victims in Visayas region

Malacanang assured that the Aquino government is exerting all out efforts to attend to the needs of the victims in the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that jolted several provinces in the Visayas region on Monday as it echoed President Benigno S. Aquino III’s call to the people to stay calm and cooperate with the concerned authorities in their respective area.

In a statement he read during the regular press briefing in Malacanang on Tuesday, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said that various government agencies were already directed by the President to perform their duties and services to the people.

“The President is deeply concerned about our countrymen in the affected areas. He is focused on ensuring that services resume at the soonest possible time. He appeals to everyone to remain calm and to cooperate with the authorities as they work to bring these areas back to normaly,” Valte said.

“President Aquino has already ordered concerned agencies to activate their response teams to aid the victims. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) have placed their quick response teams on standby ready for deployment, and have at least 2,000 family packs ready for augmentation.

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) units have initiated evacuation efforts, search and rescue operations; and helped in relief operations, alongside the assets of the Philippine Navy (PN),” she said adding that “together with the affected local government units (LGUs), the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) has been conducting Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis (DANA) in the affected areas, as instructed by the President”.

Valte further said that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has been conducting clearing and re-routing operations in roads and bridges rendered impassable.

Rehabilitation efforts, she added, are also underway for infrastructure that has been substantially damaged apart from the continuous work being done by the Department of Energy (DoE) to restore power in the affected areas.

Valte likewise said the continued monitoring efforts of the NDRRMC, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Department of Science and Technology’s Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (DOST-PHIVOLCS) on the situation in the areas of concern to make sure that advisories and bulletins will be disseminated properly and on time.

“The NDRRMC, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), and the DOST-PHIVOLCS and their corresponding regional offices will continue to monitor the situation and disseminate advisories and bulletins to the public, particularly to coastal communities in Negros Oriental and Cebu that need to be watchful of sea level changes due to aftershocks,” Valte said.

As of 12:30, Tuesday morning, the NDRRMC has already accounted 15 fatalities, 52 injured, and 29 missing individuals following the destructive natural calamity.

Recent reports bared the powerful quake hit a narrow strait between the provinces of Cebu and Negros which caused damage to buildings and other infrastructure and brought down the power supply in the area.

The Philippines is situated along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a belt around the Pacific Ocean where friction between shifting tectonic plates that usually causes frequent occurrence of earthquakes and volcanic activities. (PCOO/PIA9-ZBST)