Hanoi (VNA) – Philippine authorities on October 2 announced the end of search and rescue operations in Cebu province, which was devastated by a 6.9-magnitude earthquake two days earlier - the country’s deadliest quake in more than a decade.
The current death toll of 72 is not expected to go much higher and missing people have been accounted for. Attention has now turned to delivering aid to survivors of the 6.9-magnitude quake.
Striking waters off Cebu's central island on late September 30, the quake has caused more than 20,000 people to be displaced, while over 300 injured.
On October 2, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr visited Bogo, a city of some 90,000 that was the worst-affected, seeking to reassure evacuees and noting that relief operations have been complicated due to widespread damage to infrastructure.
"We will make sure there is food supply, water supply and electricity - a generation set if needed. Whatever the people need, we will make sure we can provide," he told reporters.
The Philippines sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" - an earthquake-prone belt of volcanoes stretching from South America to the Russian Far East. It experiences more than 800 quakes each year./.
