At least four people died while more than 60 others were injured when a magnitude 7.0 earthquake jolted the northern parts of Luzon on Wednesday morning, July 27, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin ‘Benhur’ Abalos Jr. said.
Quoting reports from the local government units, Abalos said two of the fatalities were from Benguet, and one each in Abra an Mt. Province.
The epicenter of the earthquake was located in Langangilang town of Abra, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.
The tremor was felt in most parts of Luzon, including Metro Manila.
Abalos said the earthquake was felt in 15 provinces, 15 cities, 280 municipalities and 6,756 barangays in Regions 1, 2 and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).
The DILG chief noted that initial CAR reports disclosed that 29 municipal roads, three bridges, 173 private and government buildings were damaged in Abra with 31 out of the 58 landslides occurring in the province.
“Sa break down ko lang po (referring to the President). Lumalabas sa Abra ay tatlong tulay (damaged). Sa buildings (damaged), sa Baguio 33 were affected tapos 59 dito sa Abra. Sa Apayao dalawa tapos sa Benguet 62 pagkatapos sa Kalinga 7 and then sa Mountain Province 10 (In my breakdown, three bridges were damaged in Abra. In the damaged buildings 33 were in Baguio, 59 were in Abra, two were in Apayao, 62 were in Benguet, seven were in Kalinga and 10 were in the Mountain Province. That’s a total of 173. And of course ang pinakaraming landslides reported ay dito sa Abra with 31. Ang mga injured pinakarami din sa Abra at 44 (the most number of landslides that occurred is in Abra at 31 and the most number of injured persons were also recorded in Abra with 44),’’ said Abalos.
Abalos said police and members of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) were deployed in the areas severely affected by the earthquake. (Chito A. Chavez)