GUIHULNGAN CITY-- Only a miracle could save them now.

About 29 people are feared dead in the City of Guihulngan following a landslide in a sitio of barangay Planas, brought about by the magnitude 6.8 earthquake that struck at 11:49 a.m. yesterday in what appears to be the strongest earthquake to hit Negros.

"The 29 people were buried in 30 feet of soil. If you had been buried from noon until now (6 p.m.), I don't expect you to be alive," said Guihulngan Mayor Ernesto Reyes, in a telephone interview with the DAILY STAR.

Reyes said all bridges and roads leading to the north and south of Guihulngan have been damaged, leaving his City isolated.

The figures are in addition to the 12 fatalities listed by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, which  said that eight of the fatalities are from Guihulngan City, one each from Jimalalud and Bindoy towns and two from Tayasan.

But Col. Francisco Patrimonio, commander of the Army's 302nd Infantry Brigade, told ABS-CBN as least 43 people died in Negros Oriental following the 6.9 magnitude earthquake.

Twenty-nine people died in a landslide in Moog, Barangay Planas in Guihulngan City, and 10 other died in other parts of the city, , he said.

Two people died in Tayasan town, one was killed in Bindoy, and another one died in Jimalalod, all in Negros Oriental, Patrimonio said.

He said looting is now rampant in Guihulngan City, forcing the military to enforce tougher security in the quake-hit city.

Three bridges have also sustained structural damage and have been rendered unpassable -- the bridges of Martilo in La Libertad town, Pangaluan in Jimalalud town and the bridge of Tinayonan in Guihulngan City. Cracks have also been monitored along sections of the national highway and on public and private buildings, the PDRRMC statement said.

In addition to the deaths, Reyes said Guihulngan has about 100 patients who are in need of immediate medical attention. "We need to transport these patients, to Bacolod, Cebu or Dumaguete but our roads and bridges are unpassable," Reyes lamented.

Reyes called for help in the form of medicine and supplies for accident victims.

The City of Guihulngan is near the epicenter of the quake, located 70 kilometers north of Dumaguete City.

Reyes said that, aside from the loss of lives and injuries, many buildings have been damaged. "The Land Bank building is leaning to one side while a portion of our public market collapsed."

Guihulngan residents also fled to higher ground after they noted the sea water erratically shifting from low tide to high tide. "We feared a tsunami was coming so most people evacuated--even my family is in the hills now," Reyes said.

Those who opted to remain in the City proper are sleeping in open fields. "We have not given them the go-signal to return to their homes until after these aftershocks cease. It's still very scary for all of us here," Reyes said.*AP

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Meanwhile, among the fatalities, as released by the Philippine National Police provincial office, were Bernadeth Raydan, 9 who was hit by a concrete fence that collapsed in Tayasan town; Anafe Estrabella, 12, Jimalalud town; and Betty Yap Mansano, 62, owner of a gasoline station in Guihulngan City, who was reportedly buried in rubble after a building had collapsed and presumed dead.

A report from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported that as of 4 p.m. yesterday, an initial report placed the deaths at seven with six in Guihulngan City and another one in Tayasan.

Science research analyst Jose Agustin Molas of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology Seismic Station in San Antonio, Sibulan town in Negros Oriental said that the main shock occurred at 11.49 a.m. with a depth of 10 and located 09.97 North, 123.14 E-5  N 41W of Tayasan, Negros Oriental.

The main quake was felt at Intensity 7 in Dumaguete and Sibulan, Intensity 8 in Tanjay City and stronger intensities in the northern towns, Molas said.

Molas said, the main shock lasted for about 402.32 seconds or 6.7 minutes from start to finish based on the seismograph recording. However, people interviewed said they felt the tremor from less than a minute to up to two or three minutes depending on their location.

Five aftershocks immediately followed, recorded at 12:03 p.m., 12:11 p.m., 12:13 p.m. (two aftershocks), and 12:20 p.m.

By 2 p.m., at least 80 aftershocks were recorded at the Sibulan PHIVOLCS Seismic Station. By 5 p.m. Monday, Molas reported a total of 157 aftershocks even as people in Dumaguete and other nearby areas were posting on social networking sites of feeling slight tremors.

Shortly after 1 p.m., a tsunami alert level 2 warning was issued by PHIVOLCS Cebu, causing panic among residents in Dumaguete and other areas and sending people evacuating to higher ground, specifically in the mountainous areas of Sibulan and Valencia towns.

Business rolled to a stop, department stores, the Robinson’s Place shopping mall and other business establishments closed for the day as people scrambled to leave for their homes. Traffic piled up in Dumaguete as pedicabs, the main form of transportation, became scarce.

The Department of Education announced the suspension of classes, while government offices allowed their employees to go home.

In Dumaguete City, damage to private and public establishments is being assess and to the public is being called.*JFP

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