THE PROVINCIAL government of Davao de Oro has placed the province under a state of calamity following a series of earthquakes early this month that were aftershocks of the Feb. 1 tremor.
The declaration came about after the provincial board, headed by Vice Gov. Jayvee Tyron Uy, held an online special session on Saturday to discuss the local government’s emergency response.
The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, chaired by Gov. Dorothy Montejo-Gonzaga, “recognized the need to fund and undertake critical, urgent and appropriate disaster risk reduction programs, projects and activities in order to alleviate the impacts caused by the earthquake,” the resolution added.
“Based on the situational reports and initial rapid damage assessment and needs analysis report by MLGUs (municipal local government units), the said earthquake has affected a total of 194.057 households with 229,647 families and has caused severely damaged houses, infrastructures, and livelihoods, as well as powerlines, roads and other and other lifelines within the province, with an accumulated initial estimated cost of damage of P196.847 million,” the resolution read.
The estimated damage, it added, even “excluded costs of damages to 160 schools and other facilities and the costs of damages of March 7, 2023 earthquakes.”
The resolution added that it was necessary to place the province under a state of calamity “to facilitate expedient delivery of services to the affected individuals and/or communities in the province.”
A 5.9-magnitude earthquake shook the province at 9 am on March 8 and was felt in the entire Davao Region and other Mindanao areas.
On the day that the earthquake took place, the province was supposed to hold the last day of its “Bulawan Festival,” which also coincided with the 25th founding anniversary of the province.
The earthquake prompted Gonzaga to cancel most events, except for the mass for the founding anniversary.
Last week, the municipal government of New Bataan, the epicenter of the earthquake, declared the town under a state of calamity. The town was disconnected from the nearby town Maragusan when part of the main road caved in.
Based on the report of the regional office of the Office of Civil Defense Monday, as of noon Sunday, there were 1,477 earthquakes recorded, 240 of them plotted, and 33 felt. The range of the magnitude was between 1.4 and 5.9.
