CEBU CITY—Elsie Ygay thought she would die. Several people fell on top of her while others stepped on her back and left leg.
“I could hardly breathe. I thought I would die today. But I did not want to die as I thought about my 7-year-old son,” the 43-year-old woman told the Inquirer at the trauma center of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center here on Tuesday noon.
“I prayed and prayed to God the Father. I left my fate to God,” she said.
Ygay and a thousand others were at a public auditorium in Pinamungahan town, 65 kilometers southwest of the city, as early as 6 a.m., all eager to receive their cash assistance from the government, when the ground suddenly shook.
A mad scramble to get out ensued, leaving a 4-year-old girl dead after she was separated from her mother and at least 24 others injured. The girl was identified as Shaiza P. Mia.
Basilica del Sto. Niño
At the Basilica del Sto Niño here, Nenita Domencillo, 29, was hearing Mass about 8 a.m. when the walls started to shake from the 7.2-magnitude earthquake which hit Cebu and the rest of the Visayas.
A few seconds later, the bell tower on the right side of the church fell. Church security guards quickly ushered about 50 people out for their safety.
A passing motorist was hit by falling debris and suffered bruises.
“We were still lucky that it was a holiday and not so many people were inside the church when the earthquake occurred,” said Fr. Jonas Mejares, the parish rector.
Several other churches in the city, including the century-old ones in Dumanjug and Boljoon towns, and in Carcar City, were damaged.
Cracks were found on the façade of Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral and its bell tower on the left side. Lourdes Parish Church in Barangay (village) Punta, and Holy Cross Church and Sto. Tomas de Villanueva Church, both in Basak Pardo, were also damaged.
“In life, people have to experience calamities for us to be reminded of our faith. This is just a wake-up call, a reminder that we need Him (the Sto. Niño),” Mejares said.
Cash transfer scheme
Ygay said she was standing near the entrance of the auditorium when she saw people rushing toward her. She said she felt alone as people around her were helping their friends until an old man came and took her to an ambulance.
She said she was very thankful that she was saved and was given another chance to live.
A similar stampede occurred at Barba Sports Complex in Toledo City during the distribution of the financial assistance, said Cathy del Calsada, regional coordinator of the government’s conditional cash transfer program called the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
Twenty people were hurt, according to the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
Del Calsada said the cash aid distribution for the provinces of Cebu, Negros Oriental, Bohol and Siquijor was supposed to be held in the last week of October, but the Department of Social Welfare and Development decided to reset it for Tuesday because the barangay election ban on government projects would start on Thursday.
More than 1,000 beneficiaries were already in Toledo and Pinamungahan at 6 a.m. when the verification process would start, she said. About 8 a.m., the people started lining up to get their cash assistance from DSWD field personnel and staff members from program partner Land Bank of the Philippines.
“The earthquake was so strong that the venue shook. It was followed by a blackout,” Del Calsada said.
Stampede
She said the staff appealed to the crowd to calm down but they rushed to leave the auditorium.
Lyra Nacario, 19, of Media Once, Toledo City, said she was injured as people stepped on her when she fell. She could only cry when asked about her experience.
Two mothers, Apolonia Gintelero and Nena Canillas, both from Lamac, Pinamungahan, recalled that they were frantic because they were separated from their children during the stampede.
Gintelero later found her son Jelmar, 7, alive although he had bruises in the body.
Canillas said she lost her grip on her 5-year-old daughter, Angel.
“My only thoughts were of her. I kept calling her. I could not reach her as people got in the way,” Canillas said.
She found the child unconscious after being stepped on by the crowd.
Severina Alcazaren, a resident of Barangay Langin, Ronda, said a huge boulder fell on their house during the earthquake while the family was eating breakfast. Her mother, Mordencia Alcazaren, 76, was buried alive in the rubble.
Dr. Manuel Purog, assistant provincial health officer, assured the victims of the stampede in Pinamungahan and Toledo that the provincial government would shoulder their medical expenses, including laboratory and surgical services.