RAVAGED. A house in Batugan Daya in Barangay Nagtipulan, Lagangilang, Abra was damaged by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake on Wednesday (July 27). PHOTO COURTESY OF PONY OMLERO
MANILA, Philippines—“Kakaasi kami (We are in distress).”
Residents of Lagangilang town, Abra province said this on Thursday (July 28), exactly a day after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit Northern Luzon, leaving five persons—Kalinga (1), Benguet (2), Abra (1), Cagayan (1)—dead.
READ: 5 now dead in Abra earthquake, says NDRRMC
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) told Teleradyo that the earthquake, which had 280 aftershocks on Wednesday (July 27), is a “major earthquake.”
READ: 280 aftershocks reported after Abra earthquake
Phivolcs officer-in-charge Renato Solidum said the earthquake had a depth of 25 kilometers—the reason the intensity, which was felt as far as Metro Manila, was extreme.
RAVAGED. A house in Batugan Daya in Barangay Nagtipulan, Lagangilang, Abra was damaged by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake on Wednesday (July 27). PHOTO COURTESY OF PONY OMLERO
Because of the earthquake, which damaged 428 houses—423 in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and five in Ilocos Region—residents in Lagangilang said “we need help.”
Pony Omlero told INQUIRER.net that 20 families—60 persons—are still staying in makeshift tents, stressing that the earthquake damaged many houses in Batugan Daya in Barangay Nagtipulan alone.
Based on data from the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (DRRMO) of Lagangilang, 605 families had been displaced by the earthquake, which hit at 8:43 a.m. Nine were slightly wounded.
A DRRMO official told INQUIRER.net that while 605 families had been displaced, the local government advised residents to stay in safe and open spaces—an advice seriously heeded by the community in Batugan Daya.
Speaking in Ilocano, Omlero said they needed materials for makeshift tents: “Agpakpakaasi kami apo kadakayo Amin ta tulungan dakam man apo kadagiti mausar mi a kas paglinungan ta madimet mabalin nga agyan kami ununeg balbalay mi ta piman naperdi amin.”
RELATED STORY: Abra residents camp out in fear of more earthquakes
(Please, help us, especially with the things we need to build more makeshift shades since we can’t go back to our houses yet. Our houses were severely damaged by the earthquake.)
LIVING OUTSIDE. A day after the devastation caused by the earthquake, residents of Barangay Nagtipulan, Lagangilang, Abra decided to stay outside, heeding the advice of the local government. PHOTO COURTESY OF PONY OMLERO
The families in Batugan Daya are now living in a safe and open space in the community: “Ditoy kamin a mangmangan ken matmaturog (We are eating and sleeping outside),” said Omlero.
The Lagangilang DRRMO said 100 relief packs from the Department of Social Welfare and Development had already been distributed.
READ: Bongbong Marcos flies to earthquake-hit Abra
