The quake struck hardest in northern Cebu, including San Remigio, which was placed under a state of calamity to facilitate response and relief efforts.
Alfie Reynes, vice mayor of San Remigio, appealed for food and water for evacuees, as well as heavy equipment to aid search and rescue workers.
“It is raining heavily and there is no electricity so we really need help, especially in the northern part because there’s a scarcity of water after supply lines were damaged by the earthquake,” Reynes told DZMM radio.
He also said five people, consisting of three coast guard personnel, a firefighter and a child, were killed separately by collapsing walls while trying to flee to safety from a basketball game that was disrupted by the quake.
RECOVERY EFFORTS
Buildings were damaged as far as Cebu City, 100km south of Bogo, where online shoe merchant Jayford Maranga, 21, hid under a restaurant table to avoid being struck by the collapsing metal ceiling of a shopping mall.
“My friend and I ate at the food court near closing time, and then, bang! It was as if the Earth stopped spinning. And then the mall started shaking,” Maranga told AFP, adding his friend was slightly injured.
