By Christopher Lloyd T. Caliwan & Priam F. Nepomuceno
MANILA, (PNA) — National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) executive director Eduardo Del Rosario said that search-and-rescue operations for the still missing victims of the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that battered Central Visayas Tuesday was called off Saturday.
Efforts will now focus on search-and-recovery of the missing persons whose numbers were placed at 13.
“The rescue operations have ended and, instead, we are now conducting recovery operations,” Del Rosario said.
He did not give exact details on why but said teams are now in the area to recover the bodies.
Most of the missing are in Bohol, reports earlier stated.
The NDRRMC said at least 1,846 aftershocks were recorded between Oct. 15 and 6 a.m. Saturday. Of these, 32 were felt.
It added that the quake affected 695,466 families or 3,492,496 people in 1,373 villages in 53 towns and eight cities in six provinces.
Of these, 22,004 families or 108,917 people are staying in 90 evacuation centers.
Damage to roads, bridges and flood control facilities was estimated at P549.85 million.
At least 8,688 houses were destroyed while 25,910 were damaged in Bohol, Cebu, Negros Occidental, Iloilo and Guimaras.