A Philippines earthquake killed at least 37 people and injured 487 in Mindanao as hundreds of aftershocks jolted the island, officials said.
The magnitude 7.8 quake struck southern Philippines on Monday morning and triggered tsunami warnings in Indonesia and along Japan’s Pacific coast.
Bernardo Alejandro, an assistant secretary at the disaster response agency, told DZMM radio that search and rescue remained the priority.
He said officials expected the death toll to move as responders reached more coastal cities and towns.
Alejandro said that, by early estimates, close to 2,000 homes and 6,000 public schools had been damaged.
Buildings collapsed, roads cracked, and landslides blocked key routes. Large parts of Mindanao still lacked electricity and phone connectivity.
Mayor Jason John Joyce said landslides buried the only highway to Jose Abad Santos in Davao Occidental. He said relief goods would need to be flown to far-flung villages.
Science minister and seismologist Renato Solidum said many students survived because they were outside for Monday morning assembly.
Read: Philippines Earthquake Triggers Tsunami Warnings
Public school teacher Cesar Sundo said students in Lebak were shouting and crying as the ground shook. A viral video showed a Jollibee branch in General Santos City collapsing. Jollibee said all its staff in earthquake-hit areas were safe.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said he had mobilised the government response. Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said aftershocks continued as doctors treated injured people.
Officials said the quake came from movement along the Cotabato Trench, off the country’s southern tip.
The trench also produced a magnitude 7.9 quake in 1976 that triggered a tsunami and killed about 5,000 people.
