Mayor says Guihulngan has no power, no water

Guihulngan City in Negros Oriental is isolated.

Guihulngan Mayor Ernesto Reyes apealed for assistance after the 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit Negros Oriental on Monday.

Damage may be worse than officials realized because the quake cut off communications to some villages, Reyes said.

“We have no water and power because electric posts were toppled,” he told the Associated Press by phone. “Many of our roads were damaged, including bridges, and stores are closed. We’re isolated.”

Reyes told the Inquirer in a phone interview yesterday 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.

As of yesterday search-and-rescue teams found the remains of an unidentified landslide victims raising the death toll to 32.

In neighboring La Libertad, Vice Mayor Emmanuel Iway said the town government was focusing on providing the needs of about 35,000 residents suffering from lack of food and water supply.

Also yesterday, four more earthquake victims from Negros Oriental were airlifted to Cebu.

A Philippine Air Force helicopter ferried the injured victims from Guihulngan to Cebu. They were brought to the trauma center of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).

The four patients brings to seven the victims airlifted to Cebu. Three victims were airlifted from Dumaguete hospital to Cebu last Wednesday.

The new patients would require surgical operations for their injuries, said VSMMC spokesman Nonoy Mongaya

The epicenter of the 6.9 earthquake was recorded in Tayasan, which is two towns away from Guihulngan.

According to hospital records, two patients are children – 13-year-old Cherry Ann Rullan and five-year-old Jesalyn Anis.

Both patients are suffering from multiple injuries,.

Anis has several bruises on her face.

The other two patients are 19-year-old Kenneth Sabejun and an unidentified female patient in her mid-30s.

Sabejun also suffered multiple injuries.

The female patient has a bone fracture and an arm injury. Reporter CAndeze Mongaya with AP and inquirer reports