Displaced residents sheltering at an elementary school in Barangay Nuing were among those Vice President Sara Duterte called on Sunday as she toured areas of Davao Occidental and Sarangani still recovering from the magnitude 7.8 quake that struck the region’s coast on June 8.
At the Ignacia A. Guillermo Central Elementary School in Jose Abad Santos, the Vice President met with families forced from their homes by the disaster. Her itinerary that day also took her across the water to Balut Island, where she dropped by an evacuation center in Barangay Mabila.
Duterte used the visit to press residents on the need for constant readiness. “Mga kababayan, patuloy tayong maging alerto at handa, lalo’t hindi natin alam kung kailan maaaring tumama ang mga sakuna at kalamidad. Isama rin natin sa ating mga dasal ang kaligtasan ng bawat isa,” she said in a statement.
Patients undergoing treatment also figured into the day’s stops. The Vice President checked on those admitted at the Sarangani Municipal Hospital, and in Glan, Sarangani, she went to the Philippine Emergency Medical Assistance Team field hospital to see those receiving care there.
Figures released by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council put the scale of the disruption at 375,664 families, or 1,599,350 people, across the communities hit by the offshore quake. The council has recorded 77 deaths tied to the calamity.
