At least 34 police stations and two police headquarters in Cebu were damaged in the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck the province, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said.
Although the PNP could not specify all the affected stations and headquarters, PNP Community Affairs Division Chief Col. Esmeraldo Osia Jr. said in a briefing at Camp Crame on Thursday that the stations were in northern Cebu, near the quake’s epicenter.
The tremor hit 19 kilometers northeast of Bogo City on Tuesday night, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
Osia said one of the damaged headquarters was the Cebu Provincial Police Office in Cebu City.
Osia said the stations and headquarters had ‘cracks in their walls,’ while the Directorate for Police Community Relations Deputy Chief Brig. Gen. Antonio Marallag Jr. noted ‘varying degrees of damage.’
‘We are deploying teams of PNP civil engineers supported by experts from the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers to conduct a detailed and comprehensive assessment. The assessment is scheduled to begin tomorrow,’ Marallag said.
He added that six PNP mobility assets were damaged but that communication equipment remained operational.
Marallag further said 36 uniformed PNP personnel and one non-uniformed personnel from the Police Regional Office Central Visayas (PRO 7) reported that their homes were affected by the tremor.
He added that the PNP has not received any reports of violence or looting following the earthquake and that Central Visayas police increased their deployment from 1,356 to 2,250 officers to support relief and rehabilitation efforts.
At least 72 individuals were reported dead and 294 were reported injured, according to the latest National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) situational report on Thursday morning.
However, the NDRRMC noted that these casualties have yet to be validated.