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The big island of Mindanao, in the south of the Philippines, was shaken this Sunday, December 15, by a powerful earthquake which left several dozen injured in an area already stricken by deadly tremors last October.
Search was underway in the severely damaged building of a market not far from the epicenter of the earthquake, which is 90 km south of Davao, the island's main city, police said. This earthquake was measured at 6.8 by the American Institute of Geophysics (USGS).
As a precaution, patients were evacuated from hospitals while anxious crowds were massed outside while powerful aftershocks were heard. " We can no longer go to our offices because the walls have cracked and the stairs have collapsed, " said Lea Orbuda, a spokeswoman for the local police. " There is no more electricity or running water ".
Dozens injured
At least 24 people were hospitalized for injuries. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte himself felt the earthquake, but was not injured, said spokesman Salvador Panelo. Davao is the bastion of the Head of State. He was its mayor for 22 years, not consecutively from the late 1980s.
The Philippines is on the Pacific “ring of fire” where the collision of tectonic plates causes frequent earthquakes and significant volcanic activity. The deadliest earthquake in the archipelago since the magnitudes were measured took place in 1976, killing thousands of people, up to 8,000 by some estimates.
Three earthquakes larger than 6.0 struck the island of Mindanao in a few weeks in October, killing several dozen and damaging many buildings, schools and homes. Tens of thousands of people had to be relocated to temporary shelters due to the fragility of their homes.
( with AFP )