No electricity for 800,000 households; flights canceled

MANILA, Philippines — The magnitude 7.8 earthquake off Sarangani on Monday disrupted electricity service to more than 800,000 households across Mindanao, prompting the Department of Energy (DOE) to assess damage to energy infrastructure and accelerate power restoration efforts.

Citing initial reports, the DOE said around 864,000 households, mostly in South Cotabato, Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat and the Davao region, experienced blackouts as of 2 p.m.

Through its Task Force on Energy Resiliency, the DOE immediately activated coordination mechanisms with electric cooperatives, distribution utilities, oil industry stakeholders and other relevant agencies to monitor the condition and operational status of energy facilities in affected areas.

According to the DOE, the outages affected households within the franchise areas of six power distributors: South Cotabato I Electric Cooperative (SOCOTECO I), South Cotabato II Electric Cooperative (SOCOTECO II), Sultan Kudarat Electric Cooperative (SUKELCO), Northern Davao Electric Cooperative, Davao Light and Power Co. and Cotabato Light and Power Co.

Due to this, SOCOTECO I, SOCOTECO II and SUKELCO had declared a state of total power interruption, affecting 803,230 households.

Sixteen other electric cooperatives being monitored had already normalized operations, according to the National Electrification Administration.

Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines suspended airport operations at General Santos International Airport following the earthquake and the tsunami warning issued by Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. — EJ Macababbad, Rudy Santos, Elijah Felice Rosales