3299 Visayas earthquake damage
austraLasia #2787

                        Visayas earthquake damage

 CEBU:  18 October 2013 -- Several days after a powerful earthquake (7.2) struck the central Visayas, particular  the island of Bohol in the central Philippines and Cebu. At least 171 people have died, 400 been injured, and scores are still missing, making it the deadliest earthquale to hit the Philippines in 23 years. With aftershocks continuing, Salesians are assessing damage on nearby Cebu, especially Punta Princesa and Talisay, where there are a number of communities and works. Meanwhile all public and private schools in Cebu City and Talisay have suspended classes (probably to reopen on Monday) pending assessment of structures to ensure safety.

Fortunately it was a holiday (beginning of the Eid al-Adha festival), and at 8.12 in the morning. There were no injuries to Salesian personnel, but there has been some damage to a number of structures - cracks appearing at the Retreat House and Formation Centre at Talisay, the Don Bosco Technical Centre, and Lourdes parish in Punta Princesa. But anything like this that happens in an area where the Salesians serve so many poor people, affects us too. The nearby fishmarket at Pasil was badly affected and at least 4 people killed. Don Bosco Pasil is situated in one of Cebu City's most depressed areas. Pasil covers 1 square km with 50,000 occupants situated on a former rubbish site next to the sea. The Don Bosco centre offers various schemes and serves 5,000 children and young people in its youth and training centres and serves thousands more of the local families in its social services – medical clinic, feeding centre and scholarship programme.

The well-known and much loved Minor Basilica of Sto. Nino in Cebu City is now off-limits to tourists. The bell tower collapsed.

It might be worth making one point here. Readers will note that sdb.org features a map (Google) on its home page. For several years now efforts have been made to provide precise coordinates for every Salesian community and work in the world. This came into being at the request of authorities after the Haiti earthquake, where a number of Salesian personnel and students were killed, along with thousands of other people. It was estimated by rescue workers struggling to find their way through destroyed streets, buildings, that with such coordinates in hand, a particular building or set of buildings could have been found earlier, and sometimes minutes are the difference between life and death.

For readers in EAO, could this most recent disaster in the Philippines be a reminder to check whether their community is located on that map? sdb.org needs the coordinates to 'flag' it, then anyone going to the main Google map site can easily track those coordinates  If you want to get the coordinates of a location you see on Google Maps, just right-click the location then select What's here?The coordinates will appear in the search box.