Rescue efforts have continued today, a day after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southern Philippines.
Rescuers searched ruined buildings in the southern Philippines to ensure no one was still trapped a day after one of the strongest earthquakes to hit the country in a half-century killed at least 37 people.
The earthquake centered off Mindanao, the second most populous Philippine island, injured nearly 500 people and displaced more than 32,000, most of whom fled to emergency shelters.
Many people who left their homes feared a tsunami. Waves up to 1.4-meters (4.6-feet) above tide level were measured in the Philippines, but the only tsunami damage reported was to six shanties on stilts in a coastal village. Smaller waves washed ashore in Indonesia and Palau and as far away as southern Japan.
Only four people were considered missing on official records in the southern provinces near where the 7.8 magnitude quake struck Monday morning. However, the Office of Civil Defense acknowledged several collapsed and heavily damaged buildings must be thoroughly inspected for possible survivors or casualties.
Monday’s earthquake was centered at sea at a depth of 33 kilometers (20 miles), about 32 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of Maasim town in Sarangani province.
Teresito Bacolcol, the director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology that it was set off by movement in the Cotabato Trench and was the strongest since the same undersea depression triggered an 8.1-magnitude quake that whipped up tsunami waves on Aug. 17, 1976.
He said that about 8,000 people died from that quake and tsunami waves of up to 8 to 10 meters (26 to 33 feet) that engulfed several towns and provinces. A 1990 earthquake that also had a magnitude of 7.8 left more than 1,000 people dead, injured thousands and caused extensive damages in northern provinces and cities.
The earthquake left a trail of destruction, including in General Santos, a lively coastal city of more than 700,000 people known as the country’s tuna capital, where at least 13 people were killed in collapsed buildings and due to falling debris.
According to Rafaelito Alejandro of the Office of Civil Defense, at least 18 died in Sarangani province, mostly in a landslide that buried houses in the mountainside town of Glan, The other deaths were reported in the southern provinces of South Cotabato and Davao Occidental, and on Balut Island, disaster response officials.
According to an initial government damage assessment about 2,500 houses and 117 government buildings and facilities were damaged in several provinces. The international airport in General Santos remained shut for a second day, forcing the cancellation of 63 domestic flights except for those on humanitarian missions.
Public School Buldings To Be Assessed Before Classes Resume
About 6,000 public school buildings in quake-hit provinces must be assessed before classes can resume. The quake struck on the first day of classes nationwide after a two-month summer break, and many who sustained injuries were young students who had gathered with excitement for morning flag-raising ceremonies.
Authorities have warned that buildings that sustained cracks could collapse due to aftershocks, some of them dangerously powerful. “We cannot force the immediate reopening of schools because we have to ensure the integrity of the buildings,” Alejandro said.
The United States, a treaty ally of the Philippines, said that it was coordinating with Manila and was ready to support Philippine response efforts. France, Japan and New Zealand also expressed support.
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