This photo, shared by netizens and local media outlets in General Santos City and Sarangani province on Facebook, shows boulders blocking the national highway leading to Glan town following a landslide triggered by the magnitude 6.8 earthquake on Friday afternoon (November 17, 2023).
ILIGAN CITY—The municipal government of Glan in Sarangani province, which was hardest hit by the magnitude 6.8 earthquake that struck Mindanao on Nov. 17, has appealed for help from the national government in defraying the cost of quick response and early recovery measures for affected families.
“I [appeal] for help from the national government, especially to President Marcos, so the families can begin to rebuild their homes. The LGU (local government unit) of Glan cannot do it without the help of our national government,” Glan Mayor James Victor Yap Sr. said in an interview over ABS-CBN News on Wednesday.
Yap said their priority was to restore the damaged houses of residents so they could restart their lives.
As of Wednesday, Yap said over 2,000 houses in the town were damaged by the strong quake that was felt there at Intensity 7, the highest in the scale of quake intensities of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
Four also died, among them a mother and her child who were buried inside their house in Barangay Mudan by a landslide spawned by the temblor.
Of the 85 residents injured, only two remained in the hospital as of Wednesday.
Warning
Yap said they advised about 20 families not to return to their houses which were destroyed when the ground in some of the villages cracked.
Because of the heavy damage on the municipal hall, several local government offices, including Yap’s, had to be relocated. For one, Yap is sharing a space at the youth center, while the treasurer’s office is temporarily sheltered at the public market, and the local chapel is hosting the offices of the assessor and municipal agriculturist.
The Sarangani district engineering office earlier estimated repairs for the town hall to cost P20 million, although work on it is dependent on a thorough assessment of the building’s structural integrity.
Yap said the local government has only P7 million in quick response fund, which has been made available following a declaration of a state of calamity.
The affected families, Yap said, have been given assistance by the Department of Social Welfare and Development. Those with damaged houses will receive P5,000 each while those who lost their houses get P10,000.
On Wednesday, Sarangani Gov. Rogelio Pacquiao extended the class suspension throughout the province until Friday to give way to more thorough inspection and assessment of all school buildings.
Pacquiao also ordered school heads to present to engineering and building officials a certification of the structural integrity of their facilities before reopening classes. —RYAN D. ROSAURO