Mag-5.1 earthquake jolts Ormoc
Epicenter Albuera town reports no casualty, damage
aftershocks. As of now, there is no evacuation being undertaken dahil wala naman nasugatan o namatay. We are so very thankful," the mayor told qhe FREEMAN.
Back in Ormoc, acting City Mayor Bennet Pongos Jr.—representing Mayor Richard Gomez who was incidentally in Manila yesterday for official business—issued Executive Order 39 suspending classes in all levels in the city to give way to the inspection of all school buildings.
There were minimal damages reported on vital infrastructures. Engineer Lino Gonzales of the 4th Leyte Engineering District, there were minimal damages reported on vital infrastructures, and that all roads and bridges were passable.
However, there were 56 houses at Brgy. Alta Vista that were reported to have incurred both superficial and serious cracks. Councilor Vincent Rama said the barangay hall there was also badly damaged. The barangay now joins the list of 13 villages that were badly affected by the July 6 quake.
In a monitoring of the 13 villages, the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office reported that some "partially damaged" houses in the July 6 quake have collapsed totally after yesterday’s tremor.
Meanwhile, it was “business as usual” at the Ormoc City Hall even if all departments have to hold offices at the lobby and the ground floor. The second and third floor was declared “unsafe” yet by building officials because of collapsed ceilings, exposing electrical wirings.
City Engineer Ranie Oliveros said his men would hasten the cleanup and repair of the wirings so that the employees can return to their respective offices immediately.
City Administrator Vincent Emnas initially ordered the lock down of the Ormoc City Hall pending the assessment of building officials as to its safety. He said the building suffered more damages in yesterday’s quake than that of the 6.5-magnitude quake on July 6, and of the 5.8-magnitude aftershock on July 10.
Vice Mayor Leo Carmelo Locsin Jr., on the other hand, co-chaired the incident command post with Pongos, and deployed city councilors and the city’s rescue units, including the radio group REACT, to monitor the quake’s damage around the city