No report of Filipino casualties in Japan quake

MANILA, Philippines—A ship ran aground in the temblor and tsunami that hit Japan on Friday, but all 20 Filipino seamen were unhurt, officials said Monday.

Authorities also said that so far there had been no reports of Filipinos among the casualties in the Japanese disaster, although the militant group Migrante International said 24 were missing in the aftermath of the temblor.

Migrante reported earlier that nine Filipinos were missing but that they were now all accounted for.

“So far, no Filipinos are among the recorded fatalities,” Philippine Ambassador Manuel Lopez reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs Monday.

MV Coral Ring

Carmelita Dimzon, chief of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, said the government was attempting to repatriate the 20 Filipinos whose ship, the MV Coral Ring, ran aground after towering waves hit the port of Onahama in Japan’s Fukushima prefecture on Friday.

“The ship was immobilized after the earthquake and tsunami hit. Their vessel hit the berth at Onahama,” Dimzon said in an interview.

She said the Japanese Coast Guard rescued the Filipinos.

“They’re safe and are now billeted in a hotel near Narita airport,” Dimzon said.

She said the seamen’s employers tried to book them on a flight back to the Philippines, but all the flights out of Narita were full.

Hotlines

Lopez said a team sent to Sendai City in the disaster zone talked with 10 Filipino students from Tohoku University, who were all safe. They also said Filipinos in two evacuation centers in the area were in good shape.

He also released the following embassy numbers for Filipinos to call in case of emergency: (03) 5562-1570, (03) 5562-1573, (03) 5562-1574 and (03) 5562-1590; e-mail through [email protected]. The hotlines of the consulates in Osaka, Sapporo and Morioka: (011) 6910-7881, (011) 614-8090 and (019) 629-9139, respectively.

Also Monday, the Philippine mission to the United Nation said Filipinos in Fukushima should “steer clear of potential radioactive sources in hospitals and industrial facilities” that may have been adversely affected by blasts in nuclear reactors in the area.

Constant fear

The Philippine mission said that the International Atomic Energy Agency was seeking information on the status of radioactive sources in Japan and should events there impact on the Philippines, Manila should seek assistance from the UN body.

Enrique Linaja Gonzaga, a chef from Negros Occidental who is in Tokyo, said that Filipinos in Japan lived in constant fear of more big quakes and a nuclear fallout.

“We are prepared now as we use street heavy clothes in case of another emergency and we have bags with water, food and first aid kits to help us, most specially things that will make us warm,” Gonzaga told the Inquirer in a phone call in Bacolod.

“I am afraid, but you know I want to say that this is one message of God for mankind to value Earth and life,” he said. “God, I hope the tremors end.”

There are 400 skilled workers from Negros Occidental and 20 from Cagayan de Oro City who are in Narita and Tokyo training under the Negros-Japan Human Resource Exchange Association Inc.

All of them are safe, said association secretary general Jose Ma. Zayco.