SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Beginning Sunday, Romel Romero, a Rancho Peñasquitos business owner with ties to areas most impacted by a devastating earthquake in the Philippines, started reaching out, hoping for updates.
Romero is the founder of OJT Connect, a job and internship placement platform for students in the Philippines, including hundreds in hard-hit General Santos City.
On Monday morning, Romero connected over Zoom with Clarissa Villanueva, a university administrator located several hundred miles from General Santos City.
"We felt the tremors," Villanueva said.
Villanueva said she was walking into an auditorium with 500 incoming freshmen for a flag raising ceremony when the quake struck.
"One portion of the door, already banging ... as time goes by you realize we're rocking," Villanueva said.
Villanueva said she and many students were shaken and dizzy, but are okay.
For Romero, the Zoom call brought a sense of relief.
"Glad everyone's ok, glad you're safe," Romero said to Villaneuva.
Video shows the aftermath of a collapsed building containing a Jollibee restaurant. The company says no one was hurt in the collapse, which happened just before 8 a.m. local time.
As news of the 7.8 magnitude quake spread, Romero said his concern grew quickly.
"My heart was racing. It was more worry and understanding, putting myself in their positions," Romero said.
Romero said he has several employees based north of General Santos City.
"Didn't respond, as soon as [they] used to, but glad to learn they’re okay. They are a little shaken," Romero said.
The damage in the neighborhoods of some of the OJT Connect's student users has been widespread, and the lives of many of them are now in limbo.
"The concern is daily life. They have lost homes, jobs. An event like this will have a domino effect," Romero said.
OJT Connect is now reaching out to those students to assess what they need.
"We're going to kind of figure out, what do these students need help with … A lot of them already come from poverty. Events like this set them back even more," Romero said.
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