At least 35 dead after major earthquake strikes southern Philippines

5 days ago

Joel Guinto and

Virma Simonette Rivera, Manila

Hundreds of aftershocks have jolted southern Philippines after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake left dozens of people dead and hundreds more injured.

The scale of devastation on Mindanao island is becoming clear as emergency responders reach coastal cities and towns. Officials fear the death toll, which currently stands at 37 dead and 487 injured, could rise.

Buildings have collapsed and roads are either cracked or buried in landslides. Large swathes of the island still have no electricity or telephone connectivity.

The earthquake, which struck on Monday morning, triggered tsunami warnings in Indonesia, south of Mindanao and across Japan's Pacific coast, displacing tens of thousands of people.

"We hope the death toll does not increase further, but we are expecting it to move. Our priority today is search and rescue," Bernardo Alejandro, assistant secretary of the agency supervising disaster response, told DZMM radio.

Close to 2,000 homes and 6,000 public schools have been damaged by their estimate so far, he added.

The Philippines is routinely struck by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because it lies on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, where there is increased seismic activity.

Monday's quake was caused by a movement on the Cotabato Trench, off the country's southern tip.

The trench, which is a source of huge quakes, generated a magnitude 7.9 earthquake in 1976, triggering a tsunami that killed about 5,000 people.

Monday's quake sowed panic in otherwise sleepy parts of Mindanao. Mobile phone and CCTV cameras captured scenes of buildings crumbling to the ground and children screaming as the ground shook.

Construction worker Ramel Pato was bringing his three children - aged nine, 12 and 13 - to school in Polomolok town when the earthquake struck.

"When I was about to leave their school, I felt powerful shaking," Pato told the BBC.

"Children started running and crying."

Pato recalled surviving a less powerful earthquake in 1998, when he was seven years old. "It's not the first time I experienced something like this... I know I should not panic so I can think clearly."

Public school teacher Cesar Sundo, who lives in Lebak town, said the earthquake felt like he was "being vigorously rocked on a hammock for more than two minutes. ... and the shaking was getting stronger by the second."

"Everyone felt dizzy. Our students were shouting and crying while and we needed to calm them down. And it was thousands of students."

Sundo said the students, who were mostly 13-year-olds, stayed on school grounds until they were advised to go home.

"We were literally saved by our flag ceremony," he said, explaining that they were outside when the quake struck

Science minister and veteran seismologist, Renato Solidum, said many students survived because they were attending the morning assembly, which happens every Monday.

"They were lucky to be outside. They were able to stay put and sit down," Solidum told DZMM in a separate interview.

"These areas have experienced strong earthquakes before. This is one of the strongest."

One viral video showed a branch of beloved fast-food chain Jollibee in General Santos City collapsing as onlookers watched in horror.

The chain issued a statement on Monday night saying all its staff in earthquake-hit areas are safe.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said he had mobilised the entire government machinery to respond to the calamity.

His transportation and health secretaries have flown to Mindanao from the capital Manila to oversee the response. Health secretary Teodoro Herbosa said aftershocks, some of them quite strong, hit even as doctors treated the injured.

Access to some towns, such as Jose Abad Santos in Davao Occidental on Mindanao's east side, remains difficult.

Mayor Jason John Joyce told DZMM that landslides have buried his town's only highway, leaving half of it accessible by road.

"Relief goods have to be flown in to far-flung barangays (villages)," he added.