The third strong earthquake to hit the Philippines this month killed five people Thursday, injured several others and destroyed buildings that were already damaged by the earlier shaking.
Several cities and towns in the quake-hit area suspended school classes and office work due to fear of more tremors. Many residents may have returned to already-damaged houses despite the risks because of the humid tropical heat, causing some injuries due to falling debris, officials said.
A village hall collapsed in Batasan village in Makilala town of hard-hit Cotabato province and the village leader was crushed to death, Gov. Emmylou Talino-Mendoza said.
A woman is transferred to another hospital after she was injured following a quake that hit Digos, Davao del Sur, southern Philippines on Thursday Oct. 31, 2019
An aerial shot taken with a drone shows a damaged hotel in the aftermath of a 6.5 magnitude earthquake, in Kidapawan city, Cotabato province, Philippines
A Filipino K-9 officer inspects a damaged hotel in the aftermath of today’s earthquake in Kidapawan city
Another man was crushed to death by a fallen tree and a woman died after being hit by heavy debris elsewhere in Makilala told government welfare officer Rosemarie Alcebar told The Associated Press by telephone. Two other villagers died due to quake-related injuries in Cotabato’s Arakan town but details of their deaths were not immediately available, Alcebar said.
In Cotabato’s city of Kidapawan, a small hotel partially collapsed, crushing the lobby and a bank on the ground floor and causing the building to lean on an adjacent hospital. Both the hotel and the hospital were ordered abandoned because of the previous quake damage but six employees and an engineer were inside Eva’s Hotel when the ground shook at midmorning, Mayor Joseph Evangelista said.
‘They’re supposed to inspect the building with an engineer then it happened. They managed to run out,’ Evangelista told DZMM radio.
Rescue workers inspect a damaged building in Digos, Davao del Sur, southern Philippines
Rescuers carry an injured resident on a stretcher to an ambulance in Davao City
Hotel guests in Davao city gather in front of a hotel building after being evacuated following the aftermath of the 6.5 magnitude earthquake
The hospital and the hotel, its concrete columns precariously leaning and its rooms exposed without walls and windows, were cordoned off as they may collapse completely anytime.
In Davao city, President Rodrigo Duterte’s hometown, a five-story condominium partly crashed down on its basement and rescue workers scrambled to bring out nine residents, one of whom was injured and brought to a hospital, officials said.
The residents of the 56-room building had been urged to evacuate after it was damaged by the earlier quake on Tuesday but some defied the warning.
Terrified residents had to climb out of their bedroom windows after a second earthquake in three days hit the Philippines
Filipino rescuers gather in front of a damaged residential building in Davao city
Rescue workers in Davao city prepare to start search and rescue operations
Duterte and his family were safe in his Davao city home but engineers would check the stability of his house just to be sure, said Brig. Gen. Jose Eriel Nembra, who heads the presidential security force.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the 6.5-magnitude quake was set off by movement in a local fault at a depth of 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) about 28 kilometers (17 miles) east of Tulunan town in Cotabato province. The region already was devastated by two powerful earthquakes and hundreds of aftershocks this month.
At least eight people died in Tuesday’s 6.6 magnitude quake, two were missing, 395 were injured and more than 2,700 houses and buildings, including schools and hospitals, were damaged, according to the Office of Civil Defense.
Rescue workers assist a resident evacuating from a condominium building that sustained heavy damage
Damage from an earthquake is seen in Digos City, Davao Del Sur
An aerial shot taken with a drone shows the scale of damage following today’s earthquake in Kidapawan city
Roads in Kidapawan city were damaged in the quake, making conditions treacherous for first responders
An Oct. 16 earthquake with a magnitude 6.3 killed at least seven people, injured more than 200 and destroyed or damaged more than 7,000 buildings.
The Philippine archipelago lies on the so-called Pacific ‘Ring of Fire,’ the arc of faults around the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.