Death toll from Central Visayas quake now over 200

AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The death toll from the 7.1-magnitude earthquake that hit Central Visayas last week reached over 200 on Friday, authorities said.

There were 206 fatalities from the destructive quake, with 192 in Bohol, 13 in Cebu and 1 in Siquijor, reports from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and police said.

The number of injured persons also increased to 720, with 626 in Bohol, 89 in Cebu, 1 in Iloilo, 3 in Siquijor.

Missing persons were placed at 10.

NDRRMC Chairman Voltaire Gazmin said they have not given up hope of finding the bodies of the missing persons.

“It’s not that we already stopped, but we are studying if we could still search or retrieve the bodies. For example, the five children who went swimming in the waterfalls, boulders fell and we could not bring down the equipment to move the rocks. So we are studying. It’s not that we have given up hope,” he told reporters.

Affected persons rose to 3,158,869 persons in Western and Central Visayas. Those in shelters were 82,106 persons.

Total cost of assistance of the government was about P33 million.

Gazmin also clarified that there were enough relief sources reaching Bohol province and they were utilizing their air assets to distribute the goods.

Meanwhile, damage to property, like roads, bridges, flood control, school, buildings, hospitals and other public buildings, reached P1.426 billion.

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