By Marna Dagumboy Del Rosario/Philippine News Agency
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — The Provincial Legislative Board on Tuesday declared Pampanga under a state of calamity to enable the province and the people to immediately rebuild structures damaged by the 6.1-magnitude earthquake that hit some parts of Luzon Monday.
The tremor, which struck at 5:11 p.m., has so far claimed 10 lives, damaged at least 10 churches and caused cracks in some roads that include the lahar-catchment FVR Megadike.
Vice Governor Dennis Pineda said the actual extent of the damages on public infrastructures and private properties are still being assessed.
Pineda, vice chair of the Pampanga Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC), said he also asked the mayors of Apalit, Sto. Tomas, and Guagua to order the temporary closure of Chuzon Supermarket branches in their respective municipalities to give way for structural assessments, with people’s safety being the priority.
The Chuzon branch in Porac, which was four-story high, collapsed shortly after the tremor.
Pineda, who supervised the rescue operations at the site until 5 a.m. Tuesday, said rescuers have retrieved bodies of five dead workers and rescued eight others who sustained injuries and were brought to hospitals for treatment.
“We cannot account yet for all the more than 92 Chuzon workers. We have no information if they managed to run to safety or if they were trapped in the rubbles. We advised the management to ask the survivors or their relatives to make a report of their situation until a full accounting of people is done,” he said.
The vice governor also thanked several companies and individuals for their help such as by lending equipment like cranes and giving food supplies. These include the Leadway Construction, Board Member Dinan Labung, Angeles Electric Company, North Luzon Expressway, Sen. Richard Gordon and the Philippine Red Cross and Bataan Governor Albert Garcia.
“Taos-puso ho ang pasasalamat namin si Governor Pineda sa inyong pagtulong sa aming mga kababayan (I and Governor Pineda sincerely thank you all for your help to our province mates),” he said.
The 10 casualties reported so far in this province include five in the collapsed Chuzon Supermarket, three in other barangays in Porac and two others in Lubao town.
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