CDN Photo Lito Tecson
With no more signs of life detected at the site of the massive landslide that hit Naga City exactly a week ago, rescuers on Wednesday shifted to search and retrieval operations hoping to fast-track the recovery of bodies still buried under tons of soil and debris.
“We were hoping for any signs of life. The Quick Response Team (QRT) has assessed the area for the third time but all sectors (of the area) showed no more signs of life,” a glum-looking Baltazar Tribunalo Jr. said during a press briefing yesterday.
Tribunalo is the head of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO).
The Naga City government also agreed with the recommendations of the PDRRMO to shift from search and rescue to search and retrieval.
“I trust that we have exerted all our efforts because it’s going to be the seventh day of our search and rescue operations,” said Naga City Mayor Kristine Vanessa Chiong.
Next to impossible
Yesterday, the Incident Management Team (ITM) led by Tribunalo reported that finding somebody alive under the rubble after seven days would be next to impossible.
As of 5 p.m. on Wednesday, the death toll stood at 64, with 18 individuals injured, and 26 missing. Also 16 persons were saved but all of them were rescued on Thursday yet when the killer landslide hit Barangay Tinaan.
The latest count at the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) showed 1,716 families or 7,653 individuals were evacuated to safety in what has been the deadliest landslide to hit Cebu in recent times.
Chiong said two teams from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Central Office were assigned to investigate the circumstances that led to the tragedy, and assess the condition of the two locations earlier considered as possible relocation sites.
The relocation sites are both located in Barangay Tinaan. One is the Gawad Kalinga (GK) village in Sitio Tapon, along the Cebu South Road, while the second one is the Balili Property earlier donated by the provincial government.
Meanwhile, the new acting head of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau-7 (MGB-7) announced that more geologists from different parts of the country will be deployed in Barangay Tinaan to help in the ongoing investigation of the landslide. (See separate story on Page 2).
What’s the difference?
With rescuers now doing search and retrieval, Tribunalo said digging up the remaining bodies believed to be still buried underneath the rubble will be faster compared to the previous days.
This is because rescuers will now continually dig the area whereas in search and rescue operation, they have to locate first the areas with possible signs of life before deploying any heavy equipment there.
But Tribunalo assured that the rescuers and operators of at least 10 heavy equipment deployed at the tragedy site will continue to be extra careful especially when they come upon severed body parts.
“Nakita nato ron nga slim na gyud ang chances nga makakita ta og any signs of life. Mas dunay pagpaspas pero gitan-aw nato sa retrieval, sundon lang gihapon nato ang protocol on retrieving dead bodies and body parts, that they should be handled carefully,” explained Tribunalo.
(We believed that there is a very slim chance of finding any alive victims. Now, it will be faster but we’ll continue to observe protocols on retrieving bodies, and body parts, that they should be handled carefully.)
He added that the medical team deployed near ground zero will also shift their focus from attending to survivors to now looking after the welfare of the rescuers who will continue to search for dead bodies in the rubble.
Help from PNP
Meanwhile, the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) expressed its willingness to help in the identification of landslide victims in Naga City together with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI -7).
Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, PRO-7 director, said that two medico-legal personnel from the Regional Crime Laboratory will help in the forensic identification of cadavers.
“Kapag disaster victim identification (DVI) ang lead gyud ana is the NBI. We are the support. Among crime lab tua na didto (in Naga), nag-assist na,” said Sinas in a press conference on Wednesday.
(If it’s DVI, the lead agency is the NBI. We are just the support. Our crime lab personnel are already there in Naga City to assist.)
He said that it’s quite overwhelming for the NBI to do forensic identification of the cadavers considering that the agency only has one medico-legal officer, Dr. Rene Cam.
Aside from the forensic examination, Sinas also said that they will also send investigators to help interview the survivors to help in identifying the still missing victims.
In an interview with Cebu Daily News, Dr. Cam said that he had requested his counterpart in the PNP to be at the landslide area to interview and procure DNA samples from the family and survivors.
He explained that there are bodies which cannot be identified through marks hence the importance of the DNA tests.
“Mas daghan man ang living gud nga kinahanglan kuwaan og DNA samples. Mas dugay siya nga proseso so gihangyo nato sila nga didto nalang sila ibutang,” said Cam.
(There are many survivors that we need to get DNA samples. It’s a tedious process so we asked them to do it).
Forensic work
As of Wednesday afternoon, Cam said that they have already identified 13 of the 43 cadavers brought to the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in downtown Cebu City.
“Pag-Tuesday gidala dinhi (Cosmopolitan) kay 22. (On Wednesday) naay nadugang nga two whole bodies and 21 body parts lang. So all in all 43 ang nadala dinhi,” said Cam.
(Last Tuesday there were 22 bodies and body parts brought here in Cosmopolitan. (On Wednesday) there were two whole bodies added and another 21 body parts. So all in all we have 43 bodies brought here.)
Cam said they only identified the cadavers with complete body parts but added that they consider one body part as one cadaver.