The mayor of a southern Philippine town devastated by a powerful earthquake on Thursday urgently requested helicopters to transport food to several villages isolated by landslides, aiming to prevent widespread hunger.
Earthquake Impact
The 7.8 magnitude offshore quake, one of the strongest to hit the archipelago in 50 years, struck Monday off the southern province of Sarangani. It has left at least 47 people dead, 688 injured, and 31 still missing. More than 45,000 people remain displaced, with about half in emergency shelters, as the quake damaged over 12,600 houses in farming towns and cities. Many residents are too traumatized to return home due to ongoing aftershocks, provincial officials reported.
Highest Casualty in Sarangani
Sarangani reported 20 deaths, the highest toll among affected provinces, mostly due to a landslide that buried houses in the coastal town of Glan, according to the government's Office of Civil Defense, which handles major disasters.
Glan Mayor Victor James Yap stated that power has not been restored to his province, and 10 of 31 villages in his town of over 100,000 people remain inaccessible, primarily due to landslides. He appealed to the government to immediately deploy air force helicopters to deliver food and other aid to the stricken areas.
“We need food and water but it’s difficult to transport them to some of our villages which remain isolated,” Yap told DZMM radio network. “Choppers are needed to transport food because people there are already very hungry.”
A key access road to the town has been reopened, allowing fuel delivery as early as Thursday, but the town remains without power, and cellphone services are still spotty, according to Yap.
Cause of Deaths
Most deaths from the quake were caused by falling debris from collapsed buildings and landslides in Sarangani, the coastal city of General Santos, and the outlying provinces of South Cotabato and Davao Occidental. Two swimmers drowned and one remains missing off General Santos after being swept out to sea shortly after the quake.
Tsunami Waves
Waves of up to 1.4 meters (4.6 feet) above tide level were measured in the country's south, with smaller waves washing ashore in Indonesia, Palau, and as far away as southern Japan.
This earthquake is one of the strongest to hit the country since an 8.1 magnitude quake and tsunami on August 17, 1976, which killed about 8,000 people. The Philippines is frequently hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic faults around the ocean.
