The provincial government of South Cotabato is sending rescue and medical responders and relief goods for victims of the deadly 6.9 magnitude earthquake that jolted Cebu province Tuesday evening.
South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo ordered the deployment of rescue and medical teams, as well as relief assistance, as part of the province’s solidarity and humanitarian response to the tragedy.
‘Early in the morning, relief goods and hygiene kits from the people of South Cotabato will be heading to Cebu,’ Tamayo said in a statement.
He said the relief assistance, as well as rescue and medical teams from the province, will be under the disposal of Cebu Gov. Pam Baricuatro or her designated incident command center, as they are familiar with the situation on the ground.
Rolly Doane Aquino, head of the South Cotabato Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), said they immediately prepared the relief goods that will be transported to Cebu, hopefully within the day.
He said the rescue and medical teams would be sent to the quake-struck province through a commercial plane.
Aquino said his office is coordinating with the Cebu provincial government and their PDRRMO counterparts on where to deploy the responders and relief assistance from South Cotabato.
The magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck Cebu on Tuesday night killed at least 22 people, damaged heritage churches and other structures, and knocked out power in parts of the central Philippines, the Inquirer reported.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) initially measured the quake at magnitude 6.7 before upgrading it to 6.9. It occurred at 9:59 p.m., with the epicenter located 21 kilometers northeast of Bogo City, Cebu, at a shallow depth of 5 kilometers. The U.S. Geological Survey initially recorded a magnitude 7.0 before revising it downward, it added.
Authorities warned of more fatalities due to significant damage suffered in northern Cebu due to the shallow depth of the quake