Over 53,000 still displaced 2 weeks since Luzon earthquake, says NDRRMC

MANILA — More than 53,000 people are still displaced nearly two weeks since the powerful earthquake that struck Abra, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Sunday.

In its latest bulletin issued Sunday morning, the NDRRMC said that 53,338 individuals have not yet returned to their homes since the July 27 earthquake, with most of them staying outside evacuation centers.

Twenty evacuation centers remain open, catering to 1,310 people.

Up to 34,699 houses were partially damaged, while 628 others were destroyed, almost all from Regions 1, 2 and the Cordilleras.

More than 500,000 people—or 136,000 families—were affected by the Magnitude 7.0 earthquake in 11 provinces across three regions in Luzon, the council said.

The death toll from the quake stood at 11, while 574 people were also recorded wounded.

As of Sunday, the NDRRMC reported that 93 percent of the 181 affected roads and bridges are passable to traffic, while all 48 cities and towns in Luzon that lost their power supply during the earthquake now have their electricity back.

Damage to infrastructure is pegged at around P1.593 billion, the NDRRMC.

Agricultural damage has also been estimated at around P55.9 million.

The government has so far given more than P119 million in assistance to earthquake survivors, with a big portion of the aid given by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the NDRRMC said.

Twenty-nine cities and municipalities were placed under a state of calamity.

Aftershocks continue to affect parts of Luzon, according to latest data from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

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