Mayor Kwan: No disaster is God's miracle

GUIUAN, E. SAMAR — Mayor Annaliz Gonzales-Kwan yesterday described the 7.6-magnitude earthquake as the strongest ever that struck her town Friday evening, and it was God’s miracle that spared the place from disastrous consequences.

The quake, the epicenter of which was about 138 kilometers east of the town’s island-barangay of Sulangan, started at about 8:47 p.m. Friday, instantly prompting scared residents to go out of their houses and establishments, shouting and warning others to do the same.

While this went on, seconds after, the lights went out and left an eerie scenario of doom over the entire town. Surprisingly however, there were no fallen structures, trees or electric poles around, but the local government unit quickly moved into action.

Kwan immediately called up all personnel of the LGU, the police and even the media to mobilize everything to help the residents, especially on evacuating them to safer grounds, right after Phivolcs declared a tsunami alert level 3 at about 9 p.m. over all coastal areas in the Philippines, facing the Pacific Ocean.  

At least 7,000 residents from the coastal areas of Guiuan were evacuated to higher grounds—two of which were in the poblacion area (the Felipe Abrigo Memorial Hospital and the residential compound of the mayor).

Personnel of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council quickly traveled to the island-barangay of Sulangan, linked by a bridge to the mainland, and secured the residents into the prepared evacuation center.

In the other five island-barangays—Suluan, Victory, Manicani, Tubabao and Homonhon—separated from the mainland by the seawaters, the village chiefs were able to evacuate their respective residents to a center prepared to protect them from any disaster.

There were no reported injuries or casualty in Guiuan and, while attributing this to God’s miracle, Kwan told The Freeman that the training of barangay leaders in disaster preparedness programs, as initiated by the late DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo, had helped a lot in securing the residents.

All through the tension-filled hours, while the tsunami alert was up, Kwan kept communication lines open between her and the barangay leaders and the police, constantly updating themselves of the situation in the field. When Phivolcs lifted the tsunami alert at around 12:21 am yesterday, Kwan ordered the evacuees to remain in the center for two more hours before sending them home at around 3 am.

Heavy rains started to fall at about 2 a.m. and went on intermittently until yesterday afternoon, while Phivolcs told the LGU that a total of 120 aftershocks occurred yesterday since the earthquake first struck Friday.

Blackout continued yesterday because some electric posts of the Eastern Samar Electric Cooperative fell in a barangay of Maydolong, and works on fixing them were still going on to restore power in the province. Communication lines, especially on cell sites, initially encountered problems but minutes after the quake it went on unhampered.

There were reports that the Buyayawon Bridge had cracks, prompting authorities to render it impassable except for one lane that was allowed open but only to light vehicles.

The Guiuan Water District, for its part, shut down its supply yesterday morning to check on any damage of pipes along its line to the consumers and avert contamination if ever. District general manager Rolando Abrenico said his personnel found cracks on the grounds of the pumping station at Brgy. Cantajay, a kilometer away from the poblacion, and dusts that fill these cracks were being drawn out.

The chlorination room of the water district also had cracks on the wall and these were being resolved, he said. As of 3 pm. yesterday, the district had restored at least 60 percent of the supply to consessionaires, mostly in the poblacion.

At 6:45 a.m. yesterday, the mayor led the residents of Guiuan to a Mass, celebrated by parish priest, Msgr. Lope Robredillo, to thank God for sparing the town of a possible disaster from the strong eartquake. “It was a miracle that no one was killed or injured, and nothing was destroyed,” said the mayor who, along with the residents, also thanked Mary of the Immaculate Conception and San Antonio de Padua, the miraculous patron of Sulangan Island, for their divine intervention.

Meanwhile, reports in Tacloban stated that the city fell into blackout coupled with heavy rains when the earthquake struck. The same happened in all coastal towns from this city to the southern town of Abuyog in Leyte, all facing the Pacific Ocean.

In Hilongos town, there was heavy downpour shortly after the earthquake, while residents of Abuyog said they experienced the strongest earthquake in years. “The lights were off, people were panicking, some of whom went by foot to the mountain barangay of Balinsasayao while others rode on various vehicles just to reach there, away from the reported threat of tsunami,” they said. —with reports from Edgar Allan Vilbar