DAVAO CITY – Amid challenges to access in earthquake-hit areas, all isolated barangays in the provinces of Davao Occidental and Sarangani have already received relief aid, according to government agencies.

In the first few days after the magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck, relief aid and emergency response were delayed by massive landslides in several barangays in the hinterlands areas of Glan in Sarangani and Jose Abad Santos (JAS) in Davao Occidental.

Intermittent communications due to power outages contributed to the delayed updates on status of the affected areas, particularly in mountainous areas.

Almost a week since the disaster hit, the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Davao (Region 11) and Soccsksargen (Region 12) have carried out initial aid deliveries in cut-off areas.

Local government officials and government responders admitted that they faced difficulties in reaching isolated barangays in the first few days as many roads were damaged by landslides.

In the severely-devastated town of Glan, it took four days before the road was reopened to traffic as portions in Barangay Kapatan crumbled.

But DSWD-12 chief Loreto Cabaya Jr. said on Friday that affected barangays that share boundary with the town of JAS have already received relief aid.

Cabaya said they used helicopters from the Philippine Air Force and Philippine Coast Guard to deliver relief aid to isolated areas. Among the isolated barangays are Congan, Datal Bukay, E. Alegado, Laguimit, New Aklan, and Rio del Pilar.

A situation report from the Sarangani Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) showed that as of 6 p.m. on June 12, roads leading to at least eight barangays in Glan are still impassable.

Some of them are only accessible through rivers or longer routes passing through some barangays, the PDRRMO said.

The Office of Civil Defense in Region-12 reported that the earthquake has affected about 104, 000 individuals in 118 barangays in the region.

OCD-Davao Region chief Ednar Dayanghirang said that the isolated barangays of Molmol, Quiapo, and San Isidro in JAS have received food packs. Dayanghirang said relief aid was transported using helicopters.

The DSWD-Davao said about 3,400 families from these isolated barangays are expected to receive food packs. The Philippine Air Force has airlifted 2,072 food packs.

JAS Mayor Jason John Joyce admitted that access to the remote barangays is already difficult even before the earthquake struck. The earthquake-induced landslides made access even more difficult.

DSWD-Davao said that the earthquake has affected 61,797 individuals in the region. At least 50,000 of these are in Davao Occidental.

A total of 2,437 houses were damaged, 325 which totally. Many of these damaged houses are in JAS.

The death toll from the earthquake that struck Maasim, Sarangani on June 8 has climbed to 55 in 13 cities and municipalities in Southern Mindanao.

Affected local governments have been placed under a state of calamity as authorities grapple with widespread destruction, disrupted transport links, and thousands of displaced families.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported Friday, June 12, that 1,120 people were injured and 38 remained missing following the earthquake, which affected 392,806 individuals or 86,135 families in 352 barangays in the Zamboanga Peninsula (Region 9), Davao, Soccsksargen, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).