(NIGHT VIGIL. Vice Gov. Dennis “Delta” Pineda coordinates rescue and retrieval efforts at the collapsed Chuzon Supermarket with PRO 3 chief Brig. Gen. Joel Napoleon Coronel, Porac Mayor Condralito de la Cruz, and officers of the Bureau of Fire Protection and LGU rescue units. Contributed Photo)
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — The Pampanga provincial board declared yesterday a state of calamity in the entire province of Pampanga “to enable the province and the people to immediately rebuild after the 6.1-magnitude earthquake last Monday.”
In a statement, Vice Gov. Dennis Pineda also noted that rescuers would still “not account for more than 90 workers” at the four-storey Chuzon Supermarket which collapsed during the powerful temblor.
“We cannot account for all the more than 90 Chuzon workers. We have no information if they managed to run to safety or if they were trapped in the rubbles. We advised the management to make the survivors or their relatives report their situation until a full accounting of people is done,” Pineda said.
Pineda, vice chair of the Pampanga Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Offi ce (PDRRMO), said he also asked the mayors of Apalit, Sto. Tomas and Guagua to order the temporary closure of Chuzon Supermarket branches in those towns to give way to structural assessments, with people’s safety being the priority.
Both Pineda and Public Works Sec. Mark Villar who was at the supermarket rescue operations sought investigation of the construction of the Chuzon supermarket whose three upper floors pancaked onto the ground floor.
Villar said the DPWH’s Rapid Assessment Team specifically identified Clark International Airport, the Chuzon Supermarket in Porac, and roads in Lubao as the most damaged by the powerful temblor.
Rescuers have retrieved in Chuzon the bodies of four dead and eight injured workers as of Tuesday morning, according to Pineda who supervised rescue operations at the site until 5 a.m. on Tuesday.
Pineda also noted that “the United States Geological Survey located the epicenter of the tremor to be one kilometer away from Gutad, Floridablanca. The tremor, which struck at 5:11 p.m. claimed 11 lives, damaged not less than 10 churches and caused cracks on the lahar-catchment FVR Megadike. The actual extent of the damages on public infrastructure and private properties continued to be assessed.”
The vice governor also thanked several companies and persons for helping respond to the disaster by lending equipment like cranes and giving food supplies. They include the Leadway Construction, Mr. Kim, board member Dinan Labung, Angeles Electric Company, North Luzon Expressway, Sen. Richard Gordon and the Philippine Red Cross and Bataan Gov. Albert Garcia.
“Taos-puso ho ang pasasalamat namin si Governor Pineda sa inyong pagtulong sa aming mga kababayan,” he said.
