Photo: ABS-CBN News" width="100%" />
Five people have been killed while at least 60 have been injured in last night’s 6.3-magnitude quake which rocked Mindanao.
In Cotabato province, Tulunan Mayor Reuel Limbungan said that a 7-year-old child died when a house collapsed in the town of Datu Paglas. Meanwhile, four residents of nearby Tulunan town were injured when two other houses fell down.
News show Unang Balita reported that at least five people have died and 17 were injured in Makilala town in Cotabato, the epicenter of the quake. The injured victims were rushed to the Makilala Medical Specialist Center, according to the town’s municipal hall.
Cotabato’s Kidapawan City Disaster Office head Psalmer Bernalte today told radio program DZMM Teleradyo that the city has experienced more than 200 aftershocks since the main quake hit Cotabato at 7:37pm. He added that one pregnant woman had also miscarried due to the quake, which has led to power outages, and reports of some buildings experiencing serious structural damage due to the tremor, according to The Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Because of the quake, a fire also broke out last night in the three-story Gaisano Shopping Mall in General Santos City, leading to the evacuation of all shoppers from the building. During the evacuation, an elderly man was struck by debris and was treated for injuries.
Read: Strong magnitude-6.4 quake hits Philippines’ Mindanao
Hours after last night’s quake, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said that a second quake measuring at a moderate 5.3 magnitude struck Davao Oriental at 4:53am today, ABS-CBN reported. The Philvocs said the tremor was a separate event, and not an aftershock of the Cotabato City earthquake.
The second quake struck at a depth of 120 kilometers, northeast of Manay town, Davao Oriental, with an intensity level of 4 (or moderately strong) on Phivolcs’s 10-point scale. It was not believed to cause severe damage, though aftershocks are expected. The quake was also felt in other places in Mindanao, such as Alabel, in Sarangani; Tupi and General Santos City, in South Cotabato; and Kiamba, also in Sarangani.
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