GUIHULNGAN CITY–Only a miracle could save them now.
Some 29 people are feared dead in the City of Guihulngan following a landslide in a sitio of barangay Planas, brought about by the magnitude 6.8 earthquake that struck at 11:49 a.m. Monday in what appears to be the strongest earthquake to hit Negros.
“The 29 people were buried in 30 feet of soil. If you had been buried from noon until now (6 p.m.), I don’t expect you to be alive,” said Guihulngan Mayor Ernesto Reyes, in a telephone interview with the DumagueteMetropost.
Reyes said all bridges and roads leading to the north and south of Guihulngan have been damaged, leaving his City isolated.
The figures are in addition to the 12 fatalities listed by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, which said that eight of the fatalities are from Guihulngan City, one each from Jimalalud and Bindoy towns and two from Tayasan.
Three bridges have also sustained structural damage and have been rendered unpassable — the bridges of Martilo in La Libertad town, Pangaluan in Jimalalud town and the bridge of Tinayonan in Guihulngan City. Cracks have also been monitored along sections of the national highway and on public and private buildings, the PDRRMC statement said.
In addition to the deaths, Reyes said Guihulngan has about 100 patients who are in need of immediate medical attention. “We need to transport these patients, to Bacolod, Cebu or Dumaguete but our roads and bridges are unpassable,” Reyes lamented.
Reyes called for help in the form of medicine and supplies for accident victims.
The City of Guihulngan is near the epicenter of the quake, located 70 kilometers north of Dumaguete City.
Mayor Reyes said that aside from the loss of lives and injuries, many buildings have been damaged. “The Land Bank building is leaning to one side while a portion of our public market collapsed.”
Guihulngan residents also fled for higher ground after they noted the sea water erratically shifting from low tide to high tide. “We feared a tsunami was coming so most people evacuated–even my family is in the hills now,” Reyes said.
Those who opted to remain in the City proper are sleeping in open fields. “We have not given them the go-signal to return to their homes until after these aftershocks cease. It’s still very scary for all of us here,” Reyes said.