At least 44 hurt, still no reports of deaths after Abra quake — NDRRMC

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 27) — The magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck Abra province late Tuesday night left at least 44 people wounded, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported on Thursday.

Of the confirmed injuries as of 8 a.m., the agency said 32 were recorded in Abra while 12 were in Ilocos Norte. However, at a televised briefing later in the day, NDRRMC Spokesperson Raffy Alejandro said reports of more injuries have reached them.

"Ongoing pa rin ang pagkuha natin ng report, but so far, merong 44 injured persons reported sa atin but meron pa pong nadagdag dito," Alejandro said at the Laging Handa briefing, but gave no additional details.

[Translation: The gathering of reports is ongoing, but so far there are 44 injured persons reported, but there are others added to it.]

Alejandro said the total population affected was 132,000 (or 40,000 families). Reports also said 2,043 houses were partially damaged, while nine were totally damaged.

The agency added that in terms of infrastructure, 125 were reported damaged with an estimated cost of ₱53.7 million.

Ilocos Norte Governor Matthew Manotoc on Wednesday evening told CNN Philippines that at least 60 people in their area alone were hurt due to the quake. Local officials’ tallies are usually higher than those of the NDRRMC while the latter’s report verification is ongoing.

There were no casualties or missing persons listed yet in the NDRRMC update.

Meanwhile, it showed at least 18,478 families — or 61,514 persons — were affected by the quake, mostly in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and Ilocos Region.

The strong quake forced some local government units to suspend work and classes due to aftershocks and the impact on infrastructure.

The NDRRMC said that as of 7 a.m. Thursday, at least 616 aftershocks were recorded, of which seven were felt and 128 were plotted or located.

The quake was earlier reported to have reached magnitude 6.7, but it was later downgraded. It came just three months after a magnitude 7 earthquake shook Abra.

At the same Laging Handa briefing, Abra Vice Governor Jocelyn Bernos said while there were no reports of deaths or missing persons, 42 individuals sustained minor injuries. She said 27,341 families were affected by the quake.

Bernos said they are now working with people to ease their trauma from the quake.

Both CAR and Ilocos Region were also among the three regions which bore the brunt of the recent Typhoon Neneng (international name: Nesat), which hit the country some two weeks ago.