Damage estimate from earthquake rises to P11.2M
Damage estimate from earthquake rises to P11.2M
AS cracks on more bridges were spotted, government raised its estimate of the property damage caused by last Friday’s earthquake to P11.22 million.
Eastern Samar reported the most damage, including cracks on the Layug Bridge in San Julian town, which may cost at least P4 million to restore.
Rapid damage assessment reports sent to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and
Management Council (NDRRMC) painted a less grim picture than was expected, considering the quake, at magnitude 7.6, was stronger than the one that hit the Visayas in February this year.
But the images were still startling.
An Agence France Press photo showed residents of Basey, Samar staring at the collapsed wall where their chapel’s altar used to be. Robinson’s Place in Tacloban City suspended their operations last Saturday morning to clear broken pieces of glass from the mall’s floors, the NDRRMC learned.
And in General MacArthur, Eastern Samar, residents returned, ignoring warnings to stay away from danger zones, to find at least 50 houses damaged and 24 others wrecked.
Ten more aftershocks hit Eastern Samar and Surigao del Norte between 12:16 a.m. and 4:11 p.m. yesterday. Their magnitudes ranged from 2.6 to 4.8, according to bulletins from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
Seven bridges in Eastern and Northern Samar developed new cracks, some on their piles and girders (Caglankay and Maroyondoyon Bridges in the north) and others on their deck slabs (Sulat and San Eduardo in the east).
“San Pedro Quinapundan Bridge was slightly tilted but still passable to all types of vehicles,” the NDRRMC summed up on its website.
In Cagayan de Oro, an abandoned quarry site in Upper Kolambug, Barangay Lapasan reportedly collapsed. A public market in San Isidro, Surigao del Norte was declared unsafe for regular operations after six columns suffered damage. It will take P400,000, at least, to fix the market, said the NDRRMC report.
New cracks spread on the seawalls of Placer and General Luna, both in Surigao del Norte.
In Agusan del Sur, a gas lamp that fell during the quake lit a fire that burned down an entire house.
No reports about property damage in Central Visayas has reached the NDRRMC so far.