A powerful earthquake that shook the southern Philippines killed at least one villager and injured several others as thousands scrambled out of their homes in panic and jammed roads to higher ground after a tsunami warning was issued, officials said yesterday.
The US Geological Survey reported that the magnitude 7.6 quake on Saturday night struck at a depth of 32km, while the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said it expected tsunamis to hit the southern Philippines and parts of Indonesia, Palau and Malaysia, but later dropped that warning.
In Japan, authorities issued evacuation orders late on Saturday in various parts of Okinawa Prefecture, including for the entire coastal area, affecting thousands of people.
Photo: AP
A pregnant woman died after she, her husband and daughter were hit by a 4.5m concrete wall that collapsed in their neighborhood as the ground shook and prompted them to flee from their home in Tagum in Davao del Norte province, Tagum Disaster Risk Reduction Management officer Shieldon Isidoro said.
The husband and daughter were injured.
Two other children and their parents jumped from a second-floor window in panic as their house swayed, but were not injured after landing on a grassy lot, said Isidoro, who was at his home when the ground started to shake.
“Initially the swaying was weak. Then it quickly became stronger and I could hardly stand. My perfume bottles fell off a table, pictures on my wall swung and I heard people screaming outside: ‘Get out, get out, earthquake, earthquake,’” Isidoro said.
While he feared the roof of his house would collapse on him, Isidoro said he was more worried that there could be many casualties in Tagum, a city of about 300,000 people, where he had led regular earthquake drills, which he said helped prevent more deaths and injuries.
Hundreds of patients were evacuated from a Tagum hospital, but later were escorted back after an inspection showed no major damage to the building, officials said.
Philippine Minister of Defense Gilberto Teodoro Jr told a news conference that authorities were assessing the quake’s impact, but initial reports indicated there were no major damages except for two damaged bridges and pockets of power outages.
Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology director Teresito Bacolcol said that shortly after the quake hit, his agency advised residents along the coast of Surigao del Sur and Davao Oriental provinces, which were near the epicenter of the undersea quake, to immediately evacuate to higher ground or move farther inland.
Pictures posted on the Facebook account of Hinatuan in Surigao del Sur showed residents fleeing to higher ground on foot or aboard cars, trucks, motorcycles and tricycle taxis overnight.
Many villagers who fled to evacuation centers returned to their homes yesterday, officials said.
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