MANAY: Dazed survivors of a pair of major earthquakes in the southern Philippines awoke on Saturday to scenes of devastation after hundreds of aftershocks rocked the region overnight.
Many coastal residents of Mindanao island had slept outdoors fearful of being crushed to death by aftershocks of the 7.4 and 6.7 magnitude quakes that struck off the coast within hours of each other on Friday.
Philippine authorities said at least eight people were killed but they were still assessing the extent of the damage.
In Manay a Mindanao municipality of 40,000 people were removing debris and sweeping up broken glass from homes and other buildings Saturday morning.
“Our small house and our small store were destroyed,“ resident Ven Lupogan told AFP.
“We have nowhere to sleep. There’s no electricity. We have nothing to eat.”
The destruction came less than two weeks after a 6.9 magnitude quake struck the central Philippine island of Cebu killing 75 people and wrecking about 72,000 houses.
Some people in Manay slept in tents under improvised tarps and hammocks inside vehicles and on mats laid out in parks or the sides of streets as aftershocks rippled across the region of 1.8 million people.
At the heavily damaged Manay government hospital patients lay on beds outside waiting for treatment.
Many had been wheeled out on Friday because government engineers said the building had been structurally compromised.
Nearby shopkeepers cleaned up broken glass and put merchandise back on shelves AFP journalists saw.
Vilma Lagnayo scrambled to save her family’s clothes and belongings from their collapsed Manay home.
“Reconstructing (our home) is difficult now... Money is a problem,“ Lagnayo said.
The Philippine seismology office has recorded more than 800 aftershocks since the first quake struck Mindanao which is riddled by major faults.
It said these are expected to last for weeks.
In Mati about two hours’ drive southwest along the coast Margarita Mulle and her relatives held a wake for her older sister who had earlier died from disease even as neighbours stayed away after tsunami warnings that have since been lifted.
“In case something happens they (relatives) will carry the body using a ‘tora-tora’,“ a tearful Mulle said using a local term for a hand tractor-drawn cart that is a major mode of transport in rural areas of the south.
Earthquakes are a near-daily occurrence in the Philippines which is situated on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
An 8.0 magnitude quake off Mindanao island’s southwest coast in 1976 unleashed a tsunami that left 8,000 people dead or missing the Philippines’ deadliest natural disaster. – AFP
Hence then, the article about philippines begins clean up after powerful twin earthquakes hit mindanao was published today ( ) and is available on Daily Sun ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Philippines begins clean-up after powerful twin earthquakes hit Mindanao )
Also on site :
- Comedian Robby Roadsteamer Says He Was Detained by ICE in Portland
- Xerox set to reduce its workforce after acquiring the company Lexmark
- Man charged with manslaughter over 2020 death of 'talented' tattoo artist in Brierley Hill