Five killed, dozens injured in Philippine earthquake

MANILA - Five people were killed and dozens were injured after a powerful earthquake hit the southern Philippines, authorities said on Thursday.

The 6.4-magnitude quake struck the Mindanao region on Wednesday night, reducing dozens of houses to rubble on the southern third of the Philippines.

On Thursday afternoon, authorities said five people were killed and 53 injured, mainly in a cluster of small farming towns.

Three of the victims were killed in landslides while another was crushed by the collapsed wall of a house. The fifth suffered a fatal heart attack, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said.

No fatalities were reported in Mindanao's major cities. Local authorities had earlier said three children were among the dead.

The Philippine seismology office has recorded more than 300 weaker aftershocks in the area since the big quake, but authorities said they do not expect the toll to rise significantly.

The disaster council's spokesman Mark Timbal told local television it had not received any reports of missing people from any of the quake-hit areas.

"People have returned home. ...They are OK now, unlike last night when they were terrified and slept on roads beside their homes," said Zaldy Ortiz, civil defense officer of Magsaysay town.

Local school and government holidays were announced in Magsaysay, where the landslides struck, to allow building inspectors to check structures for damage, Ortiz added.

Some areas lost power, including the transport hub of Kidapawan city. A fire broke out in the Gaisano shopping mall in General Santos city shortly after the quake, but there were no reports of people trapped.

Joselito Pinol, vice-mayor of M'lang town in North Cotabato, said patients were evacuated out of a hospital to ensure their safety during the quake. Several buildings were damaged, including Pinol's office, where the glass-windowed facade fell.

Schools in quake-hit areas, including President Rodrigo Duterte's hometown of Davao city, suspended classes on Thursday so buildings can be inspected for damage. Duterte was in the capital Manila when the quake struck.

Leslie Francisco, a local disaster response officer, said a small college in Digos city in Davao del Sur province had extensive damage.

The Philippines is part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

Ap - Afp

(China Daily 10/18/2019 page11)