Search and rescue teams not losing hope in finding survivors

GUIHULNGAN CITY, Negros Oriental—Search and rescue teams on Thursday found the remains of a still unidentified victim of a landslide in this city, raising fears that chances of finding more survivors have become almost impossible.

But the commander of the soldiers at the forefront of the search and retrieval operations, as well as local officials, said they were not yet giving up hope.

“We will continue our operations as long as it takes. We will only stop if that is the consensus of all government agencies and organizations involved in the operations,” Lt. Col. Ramil Bitong, commander of the Army’s 11th Infantry Battalion, told the INQUIRER on Tuesday.

The remains of the victim was recovered around 2:30 p.m. in Barangay Planas in this city. Details on the victim’s gender and age were unavailable.

Mayor Ernesto Reyes told the INQUIRER in a phone interview that they would  continue with the search and retrieval operations in Sitio Moog, Barangay Planas in Guihulngan, “as long as necessary.”

Reyes said several rescue teams from Cebu, Manila and Negros were helping Army soldiers in the search and retrieval operations.

The village, along with Barangay Solonggon in the neighboring town of La Libertad, is the focus of rescue and relief operation since Monday after a 6.9-magnitude earthquake hit the CentraVisayas and triggered landslides in the two areas.

Guihulngan has been declared a calamity area on Tuesday following an emergency session by the City Council members to enable the city to access calamity funds.

La Libertad, however, could not as of yet declare a state of calamity because the offices were closed, said Vice Mayor Emmanuel Iway.

He said they were focused on providing the needs of the about 35,000 residents suffering from lack of food and water supply.

Iway said they were also working on the search and retrieval operations in Barangay Solonggon, which would continue as long as necessary.

Thirty-two fatalities had been reported as of 4:30 p.m. Thursday, based on reports reaching the multi-agency operations center at the Guihulngan multi-purpose gymnasium.

Twenty were in Guihulngan, three in Tayasan, six in Libertad, one in Bindoy and two in Ayungon.

Sixty-four remained missing and 106 were injured as search and retrieval operations continued in the hope of finding survivors in the villages of Solonggon and Planas.

Bitong said the latest figures on the casualties were accurate because these were based on recovered remains and confirmed by other agencies. He explained that there was confusion in earlier reports because various agencies and organizations were giving out figures based on different time frames.

Bitong said he could not give a definite time frame on how long the search and retrieval operations would last.

“If roads are cleared, we can bring in the heavy equipment that will hasten the clearing of debris and the search for survivors and remains,” said.

At least 1,500 residents were evacuated to the Guihulngan District Hospital, Negros Oriental State University and Guihulngan National High school all in the city proper. Aside from the main evacuation centers, many residents have also left their homes and were staying in open areas in fear of more aftershocks.

Based on the report of the Negros Oriental Police Office (Noppo), 17 bridges in Negros Oriental were damaged by the earthquake–14 in Guihulngan, 2 in La Libertad and 1 in Jimalalud.  With a report from Florence Baesa, Inquirer Visayas