Grocery bagger survives 16-hour ordeal
Jonie Balicuas was just five steps away from the door of the supermarket when the ground shook Monday. He did not make it to safety because a hard object bounced off his head.
When he regained consciousness, the 22-yearold grocery bagger found himself boxed between walls.
The 6.1-magnitude earthquake had taken down the four-storey building which folded like a sack several minutes past 5 p.m.
Jonie said it was pitched dark, but considered himself lucky because he had enough space to sit down.
"Walang nakadagan sa akin pero na-trap ako sa dalawang pader... nasa gitna ako. Nandoon lang po ako paikot-ikot. Buti walang naipit (Nothing fell on me but I was trapped between two walls. I was just moving there)," he recalled.
The first thing Jonie did was to find an area where air could pass. Using his hands, he dug for a small hole so he could breathe easier.
Aside from the incessant screams from a woman nearby, Jonie said he didn’t hear a thing except
the noise outside.
Throughout his 16-hour ordeal, Jonie said he tried to calm himself. He did not attempt to strike a conversation with Lourdes Martin, the other victim on the other side of the wall.
"Basta ang nasa isip ko na lang po, ayoko pa pong mamatay. Gusto ko pang mabuhay para sa pamilya ko. Gusto ko talaga maka-survive kahit parang medyo alanganin na. Talagang nagpursige po ako (I just kept thinking that I do not want to die. I just wanted to live for my family. I wanted to survive even if the situation seemed difficult)," he said.
Unknown to him, Dianne Gonzales, his girlfriend, was holding a vigil outside, waiting for developments.
Jonie said he was in and out of consciousness as he waited for deliverance. He did not have his mobile phone with him because it was forbidden at work.
He said he didn’t feel hunger, quenching his thirst by drinking his own sweat from his drenched shirt. He said he did not urinate.
Nearly half a day has passed when he finally heard rescuers trying to get to Martin who allowed her leg to be amputated so she could be pulled out of the rubble.
That triggered Jonie to act. "Kumuha ako ng bato at yero. Nagingay po ako. Then narinig po nila. Sabi ko tulungan nila ako. Sabi nila babalik sila kaso yun nga lang po medyo napatagal (I got a stone and a piece of galvanized iron. I made noise. They heard me. I asked for help. They said they will come back but that it took them quite a while)," he narrated.
Before the rescuers left, they inserted a thin tube which brought him water.
It took three more hours before the rescuers returned, according to Jonie.
Finally, Jonie said he heard the buzz of a drilling machine.
Pairs of hands reached in and pulled him out of the concrete cage into
a stretcher at around 9 a.m.
Jonie, a high school graduate from Asingan, Pangasinan, considers his rescue a miracle.
Now in good condition and recuperating at the Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital in San Fernando City, Pampanga, Jonie faces an uncertain future.
Jonie, the youngest among seven children, used to work in a bakery in Porac, earning P3,500 a month, according to his girlfriend.
Dianne, who works in a beauty parlor, said she convinced Jonie to take the P6,000-a-month job at the supermarket four months ago.
Little did she know that the P200-aday job would nearly cost her boyfriend his life.
Rescuers race to save lives
The joy in saving a life is what fuels the energy of the resucers.
Within hours after a four-story building collapsed in Porac, Pampanga last Monday, rescuers from different organizations began pouring into
the area, armed with basic tools and state-of-the-art equipment and sniffing dogs.
The 6.1 magnitude earthquake – the strongest to hit Luzon since 1990 – shook buildings and forced workers to rush out of their offices.
Not everyone got out alive at the Chuzon Porac Supermarket. Many were trapped beneath the rubble.
Coming from 60 teams from various local governments, national agencies, and private organizations, the rescuers did not waste time looking for survivors and recovering bodies.
To ensure that work will be uninterrupted, they worked on shifts because they knew that they were racing against time.
"Walang tulugan dito. Pipikit ka lang 5 to 10 minutes malaking bagay na... wala ring food kaya hahanga ka sa mga rescuer (There’s no time to sleep. You can just close your eyes for five to 10 minutes, it’s enough..there’s also no food, you will admire the recuers)," said Senior Insp. Leah Sajili of the Bureau of Fire Protection-Special
Rescue Unit.
But nothing can compare the feeling of satisfaction the rescuers have whenever they pull out someone from the rubble.
Checking for signs of life
Before anything else, they conduct panelling first to determine if there are still signs of life at ground zero.
They use a life-detecting instrument that flashes a red light when it captures a human's breath or body heat.
And alongside it, K-9 units also go around the area to locate victims.
Once they verify that someone needs their help, the perilous rescue efforts begin.
They carefully and slowly take away the debris to extricate the victims while boom cranes are installed from the roof to serve as support of the structure to prevent it from further collapsing.
In difficult conditions, the BFP-SRU enter the scene and use sophisticated equipment such as hydraulics, cutters, lifters, and hammers.