Those who died in earthquake recorded this Monday of magnitude 7.8 on the island of Mindanao, southern Philippinesnow amount to 35, according to local media reports citing official sources.
Of the 35 deceased, 31 died in the Soccsksargen region (south-central Mindanao) and the remaining 4 in the Davao region, specified GMA Network, the largest media company in the Philippines, which cited the national Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in its information.
Of the 31 dead in Soccsksargen, 17 died in Sarangani province and at least 13 of them due to a avalanche that buried their homes in the municipality of Glan, as stated by Rene Punzalan, director of the Sarangani Risk Management and Disaster Reduction Office, in DZBB Super Radyo, of the GMA Network group.
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The rest died in General Santos City (12) and in South Cotabato (2).
According to the balance provided by the OCD spokesperson, Junie Castillo, there are 134 injuredwhile in Mindanao there are 12 missing.
In Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippines, more than 130 aftershocks were felt, some with a magnitude of up to 6.7 and a more recent one, as noted by the OCD, of 5.7 in Sarangani.
The tremor was detected at 07:37 local time on Monday about 24 kilometers southwest of the Philippine island of Burias and at a depth of around 35 kilometers, says the United States Geological Survey (USGS, in English), which measures seismic activity around the world.
Nails 10 thousand families were affected in the most affected areas, where some schools, supermarkets and shopping centers collapsed.
The earthquake caused a small one meter tsunami in at least one coastal village. Smaller waves emerged in Indonesia and Palau and as far south as Japan.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the threat of a tsunami had largely passed about five hours after the quake. Philippine officials also lifted a tsunami warning mid-afternoon. Six stilt huts were damaged in a coastal village in Zamboanga del Sur due to the earthquake and higher waves, officials said.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) of the Philippines assured in a publication on X that it is ready to support the government’s emergency response, highlighting that the “safety of students and teachers” is its “top priority.”
For his part, the president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, declared in a statement that the authorities “are coordinating the response and disaster surveillance in all affected areas”, where electrical and telecommunications services have also been interrupted.
It is the worst earthquake in the Philippines so far this year, said Teresito Bacolcol, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. He warned people to seek advice before returning to damaged buildings and homes that could collapse due to aftershocks.
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The United States announced that it was coordinating with the Philippines and was ready to support response efforts. France, Japan and New Zealand also expressed their support. With information from AP
L.L.
