Hanoi (VNA) – Philippine rescue teams continued searching on June 9 for people who may still be trapped in collapsed or heavily damaged buildings after a magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck Mindanao island a day earlier, leaving dozens dead and displacing thousands.
According to the Philippines’ Office of Civil Defense (OCD), the earthquake forced around 20,000 people from their homes, with many seeking shelter in emergency evacuation centres.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has deployed senior officials to the affected areas to oversee rescue operations, assess infrastructure damage and coordinate relief efforts.
Preliminary assessments showed that about 2,000 houses and 117 public buildings and facilities were damaged across several localities. Authorities have also ordered safety inspections of around 6,000 schools before students are allowed to return to classes, amid concerns that structures weakened by the quake could collapse during aftershocks.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) reported that more than 10 aftershocks have been recorded since the earthquake struck on June 8, several of them exceeding magnitude 5.
The OCD said the disaster has claimed at least 37 lives and injured nearly 500 people, while several others remain missing. Rescue workers are continuing efforts in multiple areas, racing against time to locate survivors and recover victims.
According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), the quake was the most powerful to strike the country in about 50 years. It was generated by movement along the Cotabato Trench, the same undersea fault that triggered a magnitude-8.1 earthquake and devastating tsunami in 1976, which killed about 8,000 people./.
