MANILA: An offshore magnitude 7.8 earthquake rocked the southern Philippines early Monday, damaging buildings and a key access bridge in a large southern city and setting off a 1-meter (3-foot) tsunami that washed ashore on nearby coasts. At least four people were killed and more than 200 others injured, officials said.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged people to go to higher ground in Philippine areas vulnerable to a tsunami, and Indonesian and Malaysian authorities also issued warnings to their nearby coastal areas.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the threat of a tsunami had largely passed about five hours after the 7:37 am quake. But it still urged people to stay alert and to heed warnings from local authorities as sea levels may fluctuate for a few more hours.
The strongest quake to strike the Philippines this year was centered at sea about 13 kilometers (8 miles) southwest of General Santos, a city of more than 700,000 people that is a hub for tuna processing and other commerce in the southern Mindanao region of the archipelago nation.
The Philippine leader said disaster-response agencies were on standby to respond. “The national government is moving and we will not leave Mindanao behind,” Marcos said.
Damage and at least 4 deaths in Philippines
At least three people were killed and 130 others were injured in General Santos, where at least a few small buildings partially collapsed and several structures, including a key access bridge, sustained dangerous cracks, Rod Sosmeña, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense, told The Associated Press.
The Department of Health said another person died in Davao Oriental province due to the quake.
There were no immediate reports of people being trapped in partially collapsed structures in General Santos due to the quake, said Sosmeña, who was being driven to work when the ground violently shook.
“Our pickup truck suddenly jerked and I thought we had a flat tire,” Sosmeña told the AP by telephone from General Santos. “People dashed out of houses into the streets.”
The international airport in General Santos was temporarily shut due to the earthquake and 17 domestic flights were canceled, civil aviation officials said.
Ednar Dayanghirang, director of the Office of Civil Defense in a nearby southern region, said more than 100 students attending morning flag-raising ceremonies sustained bruises and some fainted in panic at different grade and high schools.
“I myself could hardly stand and keep my balance when the ground shook as I was leaving my house,” Dayanghirang told the AP by telephone from southern Davao, a major port city in the southern Philippines.
DZRH radio station in Manila reported that a small commercial building housing its provincial branch partly collapsed and staffers dashed to the ground floor without injuries. It wasn’t clear if other people were trapped in the rubble of the four-story office building. Debris also fell from other buildings, hitting tricycle taxis parked below.
The quake was caused by movement in the Cotabato Trench at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
“It’s a major earthquake and we’re expecting damages and we’ve already seen some damaged buildings based on videos we’ve seen,” institute director Teresito Bacolcol told AP.
ലഘു വിവരണം
തെക്കൻ ഫിലിപ്പീൻസിൽ തിങ്കളാഴ്ച പുലർച്ചെയുണ്ടായ ശക്തമായ ഭൂചലനത്തിൽ നാല് പേർ മരിക്കുകയും ഇരുനൂറിലധികം പേർക്ക് പരിക്കേൽക്കുകയും ചെയ്തു. റിക്ടർ സ്കെയിലിൽ 7.8 തീവ്രത രേഖപ്പെടുത്തിയ ഭൂകമ്പത്തെ തുടർന്ന് തീരപ്രദേശങ്ങളിൽ മൂന്ന് അടിയോളം ഉയർന്ന സുനാമി തിരമാലകൾ അടിച്ചു കയറി. ജനറൽ സാന്റോസ് നഗരത്തിൽ വൻ നാശനഷ്ടമുണ്ടാക്കിയ ഭൂചലനത്തെ തുടർന്ന് അവിടുത്തെ വിമാനത്താവളം താൽക്കാലികമായി അടച്ചുപൂട്ടുകയും ഒട്ടനവധി വിമാന സർവീസുകൾ റദ്ദാക്കുകയും ചെയ്തിട്ടുണ്ട്. തൊട്ടടുത്ത രാജ്യങ്ങളായ ഇന്തോനേഷ്യയിലും മലേഷ്യയിലും സുനാമി ജാഗ്രതാ നിർദ്ദേശം പുറപ്പെടുവിച്ചു.
(With inputs from TNIE)
For more details: Navamalayalam.com