Batanes governor says quake survivors need stress debriefing

BAGUIO CITY—Survivors of two powerful earthquakes that rocked Itbayat, Batanes on Saturday (July 27) will need stress debriefing to regain a sense of normalcy, Batanes Gov. Marilou Cayco said on Monday (July 29).

Cayco said she visited the country’s northernmost town on Sunday (July 28) together with President Rodrigo Duterte after it was hit by 5.4 and 5.9 magnitude tremors followed by a series of aftershocks since Saturday.

“Our people in Itbayat are in a difficult situation,” Cayco said in Filipino during a television interview. “They’re just inside tents and shocked,” she said.

She called on the Department of Health to send more doctors for stress debriefing sessions for residents who were mostly rendered homeless by the July 27 earthquakes and who could have been traumatized by the tragedy. Inquirer Northern Luzon/TSB