Seven still missing as quake toll reaches 18 – NDRRMC

Search, rescue, and retrieval operations continue at the collapsed Chuzon supermarket in Porac, Pampanga, as seven persons are still reported missing and believed trapped in the rubble, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Thursday.

NDRRMC Executive Director and Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Administrator Undersecretary Ricardo B. Jalad said as of 6 a.m. Thursday the death toll as a result of the

6.1-magnitude quake that hit Central Luzon Monday has now reached 18 with 282 persons injured.

NDRRMC Spokesman Edgar Posadas said they are not giving up hope that the persons are still alive despite the fact that equipments have not detected life beneath the rubble.

"We are still trying to find seven persons. So, well hopefully, probably baka may nawala lang, pumunta [some went missing) they went somewhere tapos magpapakita din [they then present themselves] or they can be inside the rubbles," Posadas said.

Damage to schools as well as roads and bridges in Regions 1, 3 Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) and the National Capital Region was estimated at P505 million.

A total of 1,230 houses were damaged (156 totally and 1,074 partially) in Bataan and Pampanga and 138 damaged structures in Region 3 and NCR. The quake

affected some 3,205 families (14,901 persons) in 13 cities and municipalities in Region 3.

Of this number, some 909 families (3,381 persons) are in evacuation centers.

Teams coming from the Philippine Army (PA), Philippine Air Force (PAF), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), the Metropolitan Development Authority (MMDA), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), and the Local Government Units (LGUs) are still in Porac conducting search, rescue and retrieval operations.