The death toll from the strongest earthquake to hit the Philippines in five decades has increased to 37, an official said. Rescue operations are under way as families and businesses deal with the damage to properties.
About 487 people were injured and four were reported missing after the quake struck on Monday morning, said Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro, assistant secretary at the Office of Civil Defence.
“Our search and rescue and rapid damage assessment are ongoing. These numbers can change,” he told local radio network DZBB on Tuesday. “Many residential and commercial establishments collapsed.”
About 2,000 houses were affected, with more than 400 totally wrecked, Mr Alejandro said. He added that at least 117 government sites and around 20 bridges were damaged.
The magnitude-7.8 quake struck the southern Philippine island of Mindanao on Monday. It was the most powerful to rock the South-East Asian nation since 1976 and the strongest in the world this year, US Geological Survey data shows.
Philippine civil aviation authorities have limited operations at the General Santos airport to military, government and humanitarian flights. Cebu Air and Philippine Airlines have cancelled dozens of flights until Thursday as a result.
The office of Vice President Sara Duterte, who is from Mindanao, said on Tuesday that it has sent a food truck to provide meals to disaster personnel. The office is ready to increase relief and recovery efforts for communities affected by the quake, it added.
On Monday, her political rival, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, ordered state agencies to take immediate action to tackle the fallout of the quake and said the national government “will not leave Mindanao behind".
The Philippines is on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, leaving the archipelago prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Last year, more than 70 people died after a magnitude-6.9 quake rocked the central province of Cebu.
