JAKARTA - The number of deaths due to a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that shook the southern Philippines has increased to 37 people, while four others are still missing.
Rescue teams continued to search Tuesday in a number of severely affected areas on Mindanao Island, according to local media reports.
The earthquake, which occurred on Monday at 07.37 local time off the coast of Sarangani Province, caused extensive damage in various areas of Mindanao. A number of buildings collapsed, electricity and water services were disrupted, and landslides occurred in several locations, as reported by Philstar.
Deputy Spokesperson for the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), Diego Mariano, said that as many as 33 fatalities were recorded in the Soccsksargen region. Of these, 18 people died in Sarangani Province, 12 people in General Santos City, and three people in South Cotabato. Four other fatalities were reported from neighboring Davao Province.
As reported by ANTARA from Anadolu, Tuesday, June 9, OCD spokesperson Junie Castillo said most of the victims died due to being hit by debris from collapsed buildings and structures during the earthquake.
Authorities also reported at least 479 people were injured, consisting of 456 people in Region 12 and 23 people in Davao Province.
The earthquake affected about 88,000 people in the southern region of Mindanao, including 22,690 people who were forced to evacuate. Many people are still staying in open spaces due to the continued aftershocks and concerns about the safety of building structures.
The search, rescue, and evacuation operations are currently focused on General Santos and Sarangani Cities, which are the two regions with the most severe impacts.
The government reported damage to nine bridges and 19 road sections. The value of infrastructure losses is estimated to exceed 900 million Philippine pesos (about 14.6 million US dollars or around Rp. 264 billion).
A total of 1,889 houses were reported damaged, including about 1,500 houses that were completely destroyed. Property losses are estimated at 15 million Philippine pesos (about 243,607 US dollars or around Rp4.4 billion). Damage assessments are still ongoing so that the figure may change.
OCD stated that it was planning to build an emergency tent area to accommodate residents who had not been able to return to their homes due to building damage and ongoing safety risks.
The Philippine Department of Education also reported significant damage to school facilities in Mindanao. Based on initial assessments, as many as 1,159 classrooms in 231 public schools spread across five regions were damaged.
After the main earthquake occurred, the United States Pacific Tsunami Warning Center stated that tsunami waves of more than three meters above normal tide height could potentially occur in a number of coastal areas.
However, the tsunami warning was later lifted by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology after observation results showed that the wave height was too small to cause damage.
Previously, the Philippine and Indonesian governments had appealed to residents living in vulnerable coastal areas to immediately head to higher areas as a precautionary measure.
About two hours after the main earthquake, the area was again shaken by a 6.1-magnitude aftershock. On Tuesday, a 5.1-magnitude aftershock occurred again, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
The series of aftershocks raised concerns about the emergence of additional damage as well as hindering ongoing search and rescue efforts.
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