Strong quake kills 1, collapses building in Philippines
DAVAO, Philippines (AP) — A strong earthquake jolted the southern Philippines on Sunday, killing at least one person and causing a three-story building to collapse, setting off a search for an unspecified number of people who were feared to have been trapped inside, officials said.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the magnitude 6.9 quake struck an area about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) northwest of Padada town in Davao del Sur province at a depth of 30 kilometers (18 miles). The region has been battered by a series of powerful quakes in recent months.
A child died in a village in Davao del Sur’s Matanao town when a wall of her house tumbled down as the ground shook and hit her in the head, officials said.
Davao del Sur Gov. Douglas Cagas said a three-story building housing a grocery store collapsed in downtown Padada during the quake, trapping an unspecified number of people inside. Search and rescue efforts were underway, he told the DZMM radio network, adding that a still-unknown number of people were injured in his province.
Matanao Mayor Vincent Fernandez said his two-story town hall was badly damaged by the intense shaking, along with two bridges and several buildings already weakened by previous quakes.
“The shaking was different this time, it wasn’t swaying. It’s like a roller was rumbling by underneath,” Fernandez told DZMM from an emergency shelter. As he was being interviewed, he paused briefly, saying the ground was shaking again in the latest of dozens of aftershocks.
Fernandez appealed for food packs and tents to be used by residents who needed immediate shelter from the rainy weather. Many buildings that can be used as evacuation centers have been damaged by recent earthquakes, he said.
President Rodrigo Duterte was...