POWER, WATER LARGELY RESTORED

Government now focused on distributing food packs, medicines

Power and water supply have been restored in most of the areas hit by the powerful 6.7 magnitude earthquake in Surigao del Norte province, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said.

A situationer report as of 8 a.m. Tuesday said electricity has been restored in the affected towns and in about 90 percent of Surigao City. Potable water is now available except in the towns of Mainit and San Francisco.

“Bagamat kaninang madaling araw na nagkaroon po ng malakas na aftershock nakaranas po sila ng brownout panandalian pero na-restore na po ang supply ng kuryente pati na po dyan sa Surigao City (There was an outage at dawn after a strong aftershock, but power has been restored),” NDRRMC spokesperson Romina Marasigan said.

“Hopefully within the week ma-rerestore na fully ang supply ng tubig para sa ating mga kababayan sa (water supply will be fully restored in) Surigao del Norte,” she added.

Marasigan said the government is now focused on distributing food packs, medicines, and makeshift shelter.

The government has also started assessing the affected establishments and providing stress debriefing to affected residents.

She said a mobile kitchen arrived in Butuan airport around 9 a.m. along with other needed supplies such as blankets and laminated sacks that may be used as temporary shelter.

Marasigan also said the Department of Health has prepared medicines and medical supplies to avert any disease outbreak.

The estimated damage to infrastructure has increased to P112.45 million and is expected to increase until the assessment is completed.

The number of affected houses climbed to 1,790, including 143 which were destroyed.