DUMAGUETE CITY–Rescue and retrieval operations are on their second day of searching for victims trapped in landslides in Guihulngan City and La Libertad municipality, some 100 kilometers north of here.
Gov. Roel Degamo dispatched the Negros Oriental Search and Rescue Team today (Tuesday) to the two areas in the hope of finding survivors under the rubble.
The rescue teams will augment of rescuers from the La Libertad who have been digging since Monday afternoon with picks and shovels.
A report from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said that two teams of rescuers from the Federation of Volunteers through Radio Communication Inc. (FVRC) from Cebu are on their way to Guihulngan and La Libertad to augment the operations.
Reports say the magnitude 6.8 earthquake, felt at intensity 7 in Negros Oriental, killed at least 52 people who were mostly buried in the landslides that followed the first quake at 11:49 a.m.
Guihulngan City Mayor Ernesto Reyes said several aftershocks continued to cause fear among residents of Guihulngan, leading them to sleep in open fields Monday evening.
“We are discouraging them to return to their homes until after these aftershocks end,” Reyes said.
The PDRRMC has also sounded the call for assistance in the form of drinking water, tents and food for patients at the Guihulngan District Hospital. The 50-bed capacity hospital was overflowing with patients as of 9:29 Monday night.
