AT least 100,000 individuals in three regions have been affected by the magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck Abra last Tuesday, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said yesterday.
At the “Laging Handa” public briefing, NDRRMC spokesman Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV also said the number of people injured in the quake rose to 44.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said it has recorded 667 aftershocks, ranging from magnitude 1.4 to 4.8, as of 4 p.m. yesterday.
The tremor occurred nearly three months after a magnitude 7 quake hit the province. The July 27 quake killed 11 people, injured some 570 others, and affected at least 570,000 persons.
Alejandro said the latest quake affected some 132,208 affected persons, or about 40,000 families, from the Cordillera Administrative Region, and Ilocos and Cagayan Valley regions.
He said 200 families or 486 individuals are staying in evacuation centers, while some are camping outside their houses or staying with neighbors because they are still afraid to go back to their homes. He could not immediately give figures.
Alejandro also said 2,052 houses and 125 infrastructure units worth P53.7 million were damaged by the quake in the three regions.
“We continue to conduct an infrastructure audit, in coordination with the LGUs (local government units) because we need to determine if it is still safe to return to facilities, school buildings, houses and hospitals that were damaged by this earthquake,” he said.
Alejandro said relief operations, including distribution of food and non-food items, are ongoing for the affected population.
On casualties, the number of injured rose to 44 from 32. Of the 44 hurt, 32 were from Ilocos Norte and 12 from Abra. On Wednesday, the military reported 36 injured — 26 in Ilocos Norte and 10 in Abra.
No fatality has been reported.
Abra Vice Gov. Jocelyn Bernos, in the same briefing, said 24 houses were “totally damaged” and 2,320 were “partially damaged” by the quake.
She also said 13 families are housed in evacuation centers while 139 families are living with their relatives.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said 18,549 families (61,869 persons) from 208 barangays in the three regions were affected by the earthquake.
Social Welfare Undersecretary Eduardo Puna told the briefing the department is providing cash assistance to those whose houses were damaged.
A P5,000 cash aid is usually given to families whose houses sustained damages, while P10,000 is given to those whose houses were “permanently damaged.”
Puna also said some P197,988 worth of assistance has been provided to the affected families.
Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said he has ordered regional offices to conduct the profiling of workers affected by the tremor. The profiling will be used in providing emergency employment assistance to the affected workers.
The emergency employment program of the Department of Labor and Employment provides workers jobs for 10 days to 30 days. Workers are paid by DOLE with the minimum wage prevailing in their respective regions. — With Jocelyn Montemayor and Gerard Naval
