New Earthquake Strikes Jose Abad Santos as the Davao Occidental Town Reels From Flash Floods

Quick Answer

The town is facing three disasters in five weeks: a July 10 flash flood that killed four and left others missing, and now a strong earthquake on the night of July 14. Local officials have appealed for national help.

A new earthquake before midnight on July 14

A strong earthquake struck the remote town of Jose Abad Santos late on Tuesday, July 14. PHIVOLCS and international monitors placed the magnitude between 6.2 and 6.5, centered off the same southern coast that a much larger quake ruptured in June. The shaking hit a town far from the provincial capital, reachable mainly by long mountain and coastal roads.

A teacher at Kalbay National High School, in the southern part of the town, said the first floor of one school building collapsed. Provincial disaster officers began fresh damage checks overnight and were still validating reports the next morning.

The tremor landed on an already brutal day. Earlier on July 14 a separate flash flood swept through Barangay Sugal, though no injuries were reported there. Residents have posted photos and videos of buried homes in Sitio Kibatang and appealed online for drinking water, clothing, and hygiene kits.

The flash flood that struck Barangay Tanuman

Before dawn on Friday, July 10, floodwaters tore through Barangay Tanuman and pushed about ten residents toward the sea. The water reached homes while families were still inside, at the far southern edge of the province where help is hours away.

Rescuers recovered the bodies of Baby Jane Abon Cabca, 46, her nine year old daughter Ruby Jane, and her two year old grandson Leonard. Mayor Jason John Joyce later confirmed a fourth death, Rossana Galas Masaglang, 50, three days after the water rose. One resident, Danny Pallano Diantan, 55, survived. Early figures put about 269 families affected and at least 28 houses destroyed.

Why the flooding turned deadly

The rain came from the southwest monsoon, which residents call the habagat, strengthened by Super Typhoon Inday. The danger here was worse because of what the June 8 earthquake left behind. That magnitude 7.8 quake off Sarangani loosened hillsides and blocked rivers with debris, forming natural dams above several villages.

Officials believe heavy rain over one of those blockages built up water that then broke loose and raced downstream. An earlier blockage in Barangay San Isidro had already been breached on purpose to protect four sitios in downstream Nuing, whose residents had left after the quake.

Geologists note that slopes shaken loose by a major quake can stay unstable for months, sliding again once heavy rain returns. The June rupture was the strongest earthquake in the Philippines since the 1976 Moro Gulf disaster, and its effects on the terrain around the town are still unfolding.

Search, retrieval, and a reopened bridge

Joint teams from the provincial and municipal disaster offices, the Philippine Army's 73rd Infantry Brigade, the police, the Bureau of Fire Protection, and local volunteers combed the coastline and riverbanks for those still missing. Assessment crews reached the affected villages of Malalan, Kalbay, Butuan, and Sugal.

The flood carried logs, rocks, and mud onto the Tanuman Big Bridge and forced its closure, cutting the town off for days. The Department of Public Works and Highways sent a bulldozer to clear the span, and it reopened to all vehicles at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 12. An incident command center first set up at the municipal hall for the June quake was reactivated for the flood.

Teams from neighboring Don Marcelino and other towns joined the effort, scouring the shoreline where the current carried victims out to sea. Officials said the search would continue until everyone was accounted for, even as rain kept returning to the area.

What Jose Abad Santos is asking for

Mayor Joyce said the municipality no longer has the resources to face one disaster after another and appealed for national help. Officials asked the public for donations of clothing, drinking water, cooking utensils, and hygiene kits, the same basic goods families have now lost twice in five weeks.

This was the town in Davao Occidental struck hardest by the June quake, which killed eight people, injured 40, left 13 missing, and damaged about 6,700 houses, 2,648 of them beyond repair. The community is caught between the early recovery from that disaster and the new damage from the floods and the latest tremor.