8 remain missing after quake in Cotabato town

MAKILALA, COTABATO—At least eight persons in quake-hit Makilala, Cotabato province remained missing on Monday, Nov. 4, four days after the Oct. 31 6.5 magnitude quake that sent people out of their homes, destroyed houses and damaged infrastructure.

Board Member Joemar Cerebo, spokesperson of the Cotabato emergency operations center, said in a phone interview that rescuers were still searching for the missing persons as the death toll in the province since the earlier October 16 6.3-magtinute quake reached 17.

Quakes of magnitudes 6.6 and 6.5, both with epicenters in the province, also struck on October 29 and 31.

Four of the missing persons from the village of Bato in this town were feared buried in a landslide, Cerebo said.

A team from the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau would be sent to locate the missing and assess whether people would be allowed to return or kept away from what used to be their communities for good.

Four other missing persons were from the village of Malasila, also in this town, Cerebo said.

He said the quakes injured 271 people with 82 taken to hospitals and 189 with superficial wounds.

The quakes destroyed 20,632 houses and damaged at least 5,000 others, he added.

On Sunday, Nov 3, the Philippine Air Force rescued 15 residents and three dogs trapped for five days at the village of Luayon here.

Residents of several villages in the towns of Makilala, Tulunan and Mlang had been advised to relocate or evacuate following a meeting with the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) on Sunday./TSB