Magnitude-6.7 earthquake rattles southern Philippines, killing a married couple

MANILA – A strong magnitude-6.7 earthquake shook southern Philippines on Friday, killing a married couple, injuring others and damaging buildings, authorities said.

No tsunami threat was issued after the quake struck off Sarangani province on the main southern island of Mindanao at a depth of 78km at 4.14pm, the United States Geological Service said in a statement.

A man and his wife were found crushed to death beneath a concrete wall outside a wood factory near General Santos City where the couple worked, city police said.

“The wall fell on them” during the quake, Corporal Christopher Larano said.

The quake was felt across a wide area of the mountainous island.

Mr Teresito Bacolcol, director of seismology agency Phivolcs, told DZRH radio station the earthquake’s intensity was “destructive, so we would expect damage”.

The earthquake lasted several seconds, he said, advising residents to be on alert for aftershocks as strong as magnitude-6.2.

“I think it was the strongest earthquake I’ve ever experienced,” Ms Keeshia Leyran, 27, told AFP news agency from Davao City, about 200km from the epicentre, where she was attending a conference.

“People around me were panicking and running to go outside.”

A photo shared on Facebook and verified by AFP showed a collapsed ceiling inside a shopping mall in General Santos City, less than 100km from the epicentre.

A video showed terrified shoppers in another mall in the same city hiding under fast-food restaurant tables and screaming as the building shook and pieces of the ceiling fell.

“We were on the second floor, so there was nothing we could do but duck under the tables,” said Mr Gregorio Narajos, 34, who shot the video.

“I saw stuff falling from the ceiling. When we got out, we saw cracks and debris outside,” he said.

About 30 students at a nearby high school were treated for breathing difficulties due to panic following the quake, said Mr Adrian Imbong, an emergency medical services worker in General Santos City.

Captain Giecarrjune Villarin, a Sarangani municipality police officer, said he and his colleagues fled their building, which is about 30km south-east of where the quake struck.

“We saw people run out of a nearby gym where they had been playing basketball,” he said. “We have not received any reports of damage or casualties.”

Passengers at an airport in General Santos City were evacuated to the tarmac, said Mr Michael Ricafort, who was about to board a plane to Manila when the quake hit.

Ms Raquel Balaba, 58, was with her grandchildren at a primary school in General Santos City when they felt the ground move.

“We were in an open field, but the earthquake was so strong that the children got really scared and started crying,” Ms Balaba said.

“I got really dizzy, so I’m trying to take a rest now. But thank God no one here got hurt.”

Quakes are a daily occurrence in the Philippines, which sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of intense seismic and volcanic activity that stretches from Japan through South-east Asia and across the Pacific basin.

Most are too weak to be felt by humans, but strong and destructive ones come at random with no technology available to predict when and where they will happen.

Some schools in Jose Abad Santos town in the Davao Occidental province reported cracks in their buildings, said Mr Jason Sioco, a member of the local disaster agency.

But he said there had been no reports of injuries or “substantial damage”.

“Power and telephone signals were cut off for a while but electricity is back on,” he said. AFP, REUTERS