Headline of the Week "Panic grips city"

Panic grips city

Quake triggers Exodus

Text by Georgene Rhena P. Quilaton-Tambiga; Photos by Concerned Citizen

     Panic-stricken San Carlos City residents rushed to upland areas including Barangay Rizal, Palampas, and Punao after a 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit the city, the rest of Negros Island, Cebu and Panay at 11:49 in the morning of February 6, Monday.

Water in the plaza! Tsunami scare sends residents to Sitio Medina, Barangay Rizal. The traffic on this photo builds up on the Translink Highway.

     The deluge of people first came from the coastal areas that face the Tañon Strait. Areas like San Juan Baybay and Ylagan flooded Endrina Street on their way to the Translink Highway that led to the elevated area of Sitio Medina, Barangay Rizal.

     Based on the report from the San Carlos City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (SCCDRRMC), 100 families evacuated from Barangay I, 1,200 from Barangay II, 112 from Barangay IV, 40 from Barangay V, 50 from Barangay VI, 100 from Buluangan, seven from Rizal; while 3,000 and 400 individuals moved out from Guadalupe and Punao, respectively.

Truck-load. A truck of evacuees with their belongings rush to higher ground.

No evacuation warning

     City Mayor Gerardo Valmayor and Joe Recalix Alingasa, action officer of SCCDRRMC, said that there was no evacuation order. Valmayor,  who immediately inspected the coastal areas, emphasized that the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) only raised tsunami alert level 2 temporarily. The second of the three-stop tsunami alert entails no evacuation. The warning was lifted at around 2:30 PM.

  Man and faith. Amidst the chaos and panic, this man secures his most precious possession, a statue of the the Sto. Niño. As he reaches the Medina roadside, he waits for his fate.

Japan memory

     A pedicab driver interviewed by NRWP the day after the quake and panic said he did not evacuate but stayed home. He believes that the image of the tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011 stuck to people's mind and made them think that a tsunami would come after the Monday quake.



This cannot be erased. A wave approaches Miyako City from the Heigawa estuary in Iwato Prefecture after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck the area March 11, 2011. Photos like this circulated the newspapers, Internet, and television last year and became a memory unerased that trigger fear among San Carlos residents.
Photo source: REUTERS/Mainichi Shimbun Info Source: danielsheehan.com



Normal sea activity         

     The Namria tidal station at the Philippine Ports Authority-San Carlos Office, San Carlos City Port recorded only 1.45 meter rise of sea level at 2:45 PM, same day. The 12-hour record of the tidal station indicated that the sea level rise was only on a one-meter level, average, which was normal.

     But coastline residents claim to have "noticed abnormal, movement of seawater," SCCDRRMC's report said.

     At 2:30 to 4:00 in the afternoon of the same day, those who went up the hilly areas started going home only to rush back again when the strongest aftershock, magnitude 6.2, hit at 6:10 PM.                              

     As aftershocks continued, many camped out in Medina, at San Julio Reality, Inc. football grounds, and City Hall vicinity. Four Ceres buses came, on company's initiative, to fetch the panicked evacuees and brought them back to the city but some insisted on staying on high grounds.



Walk home. They who rushed their way up walks languidly back home when text messages circulated that Phivolcs lifted the tsunami alert level 2.

Hospital rush

     San Carlos City Hospital Chief Nurse Cecilia Flores reported that patients were immediately rushed to the nearby city plaza after the first shock. But some patients were carried off to City Hall and Medina by their watchers even without official instruction from the hospital staff. As of February 7, 36 patients did not go back to the hospital and failed to clear their accounts.

     One patient who was already critically ill even before the quake died under the tent that served as temporary hospital until 11:00 PM when all the patients were all brought back in.

Aftermath

     The quake left no fatality in the city while only five injured victims were treated at the SCCH, Flores added.

Students safe    

                Meanwhile, schools which were able to undergo earthquake and fire drills successfully performed the Building Emergency Evacuation Plan (BEEP). Colegio de Sto. Tomas-Recoletos Director and Principal Rev. Fr. Vicente L. Ramon, Jr., OAR said that students and teachers evacuated calmly and gathered at the school's football field before students lined up to go out by section.

                "The drills paid-off. We were able to avoid casualties," Fr. Ramon, a survivor of the 1990 Baguio quake, said.

                CST-R's more than 50-year-old school building also survived Monday's quake with only cracks on glass windows and had been assessed by City Engineer Marlon Traspadillo as safe.

Best of friends. This kid carries his backpack and heads for home with his trusty bestfriend, a native dog. At the end of the day, no water came and the kid nonchalantly walks beside a puddle on Azcona Street left by the rain of last night.

Suggestion

                The school director however lamented that students went home to panicked families because there was no massive evacuation plan. During the NRWP interview, he is suggesting to the LGU that once a year, especially during Disaster Awareness Month on July, the city conduct a massive emergency evacuation drill that will direct people from coastal areas where to go during emergencies so there will no longer be choking point when disaster occurs. The Translink Highway at Fatima Village, Barangay Rizal was clogged by heavy traffic after the quake.

Assessment       

                Valmayor, who presided the emergency meeting at the City Hall right after the quake, admitted that the SCCDRRMC still lacks coordination and equipment. He said the council is now preparing to buy necessary equipment and is working on synchronizing the movement of the council with those of the city's volunteer rescue organizations.

                Overall, the city sustained no major structural damages except for the nine GawadKalinga houses in a relocation site in Barangay Guadalupe. Among the public and private elementary schools, Troso Elementary School is the most affected with its destroyed stage and severely cracked Grades 1 and 3 classrooms. Colegio de Sta. Rita's main campus building was also found with cracks.

                Commercial establishments reported minor damages with one major grocery store on S. Carmona Street denying claims that its stock of wines got destroyed. Gaisano City San Carlos's front glass wall broke but the structure remains stable.