Killer New Zealand Quake four Cebuanos listed missing

CEBU, Philippines - At least four Cebuanos were among the 12 Filipinos who were trapped or went missing following the deadly 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck Christchurch City in New Zealand on Tuesday.

This was announced by the Capitol yesterday to contradict an earlier report that no one from Cebu was trapped or injured after the earthquake.

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia’s executive secretary Elizabeth Francia told reporters that a certain Yu, an aunt of one of those trapped Cebuanos, called up her office yesterday morning to inform that her niece is one of four Cebuanos trapped inside a building in Christchurch that collapsed.

The Cebuanos were on the third floor of the building, located along Madras Street, Christchurch, when the earthquake struck.

The FREEMAN is withholding the names of the victims pending the confirmation of their fate.

The victims are reportedly nurses working in New Zealand who are studying English at King’s Education in Christchurch.

Francia said she already informed the Department of Foreign Affairs office in Cebu and sent email to the New Zealand embassy in Manila on the trapped Cebuanos.

Garcia said informing the DFA is all they can do now as the agency is the one handling the affairs outside the country.

 “I am seeing this as an opportunity to help the DFA in the information gathering because this reached us,” Garcia told reporters.

The DFA confirmed that an Ilongga nurse was among those Filipinos trapped following the earthquake that hit Christchurch City.

The nurse was identified as Mary Louise Ann Amantillo, 23, of Balasan, Iloilo. She finished nursing at the University of San Agustin in Iloilo City and passed the board exam last year.

Amantillo was reported trapped inside one of the collapsed buildings of the King’s Education, considered as one of the best English schools in Christchurch City.

Her mother, Linda, told The FREEMAN that her daughter was on her tenth day attending that school when the earthquake struck.

Linda said after the incident, she was able to talk to her daughter who informed her that she was trapped inside the building next to another foreigner who was already dead.

As of Tuesday noon, however, Linda said they already lost communication with her daughter, adding that they are worried about her fate.

DFA-6 director Sara Salcedo said that Amantillo was among those recorded missing as confirmed by the Philippine Consulate in New Zealand.

The Philippine rescue team is now looking for 12 Filipinos who went missing following the earthquake that hit New Zealand Tuesday. In a radio interview, Giovanni Palec, Philippines Charge d’ affaires to New Zealand, said they are now exerting more efforts to locate the 12 missing Filipinos in Christchurch area.

But he noted that they are still verifying the report, saying “It’s really difficult to get confirmation or verification” as most of the communication lines in the area are still not operational.

On top of the numbers of casualties, the envoy hoped that the missing Filipinos were just staying in evacuation centers.

Philippine Honorary Consul to Christchurch Zedric Peter Wait leads the search and rescue efforts on behalf of the Filipino community.

Yesterday, the DFA said the Philippine Embassy in Wellington has sent a team to the earthquake site to account the affected Filipinos in the area.

The DFA disclosed that it has also set up hotline numbers (834-4448 and 834-4596) for families of Filipinos in Christchurch area.

 According to Wait, electricity was restored in some area, but telephone lines are still down, rendering difficulty in establishing contacts to nearly 2,000 Filipinos in the area. — With Philstar.com/LPM (FREEMAN)