Bohol quake toll now at 155

By: Frances Mangosing - 11 years ago

This Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013 photo shows a collapsed building in Bohol after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck the central Philippine island of Bohol in the morning. AP

MANILA, Philippines – The number of fatalities from the destructive earthquake that jolted parts of the Visayas and Mindanao jumped to 155, authorities said Wednesday.

Over 3 million people were affected by the killer quake.

In Bohol, Police Officer 3 Carl John Legazpi, operations clerk of the provincial office, said on Wednesday that there were 145 killed in the province as of 6:30 p.m.

The town with the most fatalities was Loon with 42 deaths, followed by Maribojoc with 15 and Antequera with 13,

The two individuals trapped inside the Congressman Natalio Castillo Sr. Memorial Hospital in Bohol that collapsed during the earthquake were recovered dead, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council spokesman Major Rey Balido said.

There were 291 persons injured and 23 missing.

The Office of Civil Defense in Central Visayas said that nine people were killed in Cebu and one was recorded in Siquijor.

Balido said that 593,561 families or 3,017,814 persons in three provinces were affected. There were 51 evacuation centers put up in Bohol and Cebu City. Some 30,359 of these individuals were housed in temporary shelters. The NDRRMC’s official records in the afternoon listed 144 deaths.

Lieutenant General Roy Deveraturda, commander of Armed Forces Central Command based in Cebu, said that there were no more isolated towns and villages in Bohol, but it would take time to reach some of these areas.

“You just have to take a long route to reach a particular place. While we were hit by a very strong tremor, I believe the response was good. All agencies helped each other,” he said.

NDRRMC said that there were 23 bridges impassable in Bohol, while five roads were closed to traffic.

The Department of Public Works and Highways said that based on initial assessment, damage to roads and bridges has reached P57.8 million in Bohol. In Cebu, damage to properties was pegged at P17.67 million.

The earthquake also crumbled “signature churches” of the province, which were built during the Spanish era. Some of the hills of the famous Chocolate Hills were deformed.

Bohol and Cebu were placed under state of calamity on Tuesday.