A strong aftershock shook a damaged grocery store in General Santos on Wednesday as rescuers worked through the wreckage of a deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck southern Mindanao on Monday. The jolt forced crews to pull back from the site while officials said more than 2,100 aftershocks had already followed the quake, including some as strong as magnitude 6.4.
The disaster has killed at least 45 people, left 17 missing and injured at least 630, with more than 25,000 residents still displaced and staying in 45 government-run emergency shelters. The quake also damaged more than 3,100 houses, 29 roads, 11 bridges and more than 100 government buildings, leaving a wide recovery effort to manage at once.
Ressa Mia Tactaquin-Betoya said the aftershock set off an alarm and gave people inside and beneath the damaged building time to get out for a headcount. She said rescuers had to secure the area before they could go back in, because no one wanted the rescue teams hurt in the unstable structure.
That caution is now shaping the response across the quake-hit region. The international airport in General Santos remains shut down indefinitely except for government and military flights carrying aid and disaster-response personnel, while about 6,000 public school buildings in affected provinces must be assessed before classes can resume. The quake also struck on the first day of classes nationwide after a two-month summer break, adding disruption to communities already dealing with damage and displacement.
Most of the deaths were caused by falling debris from collapsed buildings and landslides in General Santos and the nearby provinces of Sarangani, South Cotabato and Davao Occidental. At least one person died after being swept out to sea, and seven swimmers near General Santos were caught by strong currents in the minutes after the quake, with three rescued by the coast guard, one swimming back to shore, one drowning and two still missing.
The earthquake sent waves up to 1.4 meters above tide level in the southern Philippines, with smaller waves washing ashore in Indonesia and Palau and as far away as southern Japan before tsunami warnings were lifted. The scale of the damage, the number of missing people and the continuing aftershocks leave officials with the same immediate task in front of them: keep rescuers safe, account for the missing and wait for the ground to settle enough to reopen damaged schools, roads and the airport.
