Aftershocks rock Philippines quake city
SURIGAO, Philippines, Feb. 12 : (AFP) - Thousands of residents of a city in the southern Philippines huddled on the streets Sunday, two days after a deadly quake, as aftershocks continued to hit the region.
The 6.5-magnitude quake struck Surigao and
nearby areas of Mindanao island late Friday, killing six people and injuring
more than 200 others, with more than a thousand homes destroyed or damaged,
according to officials.
People who had fled their damaged homes
wrapped themselves in blankets and sacks for a second night as they slept side
by side on the pavement on Saturday, an AFP photographer at the scene said.
The state seismology office in Manila said it
had recorded 130 weaker quakes in Surigao, a city of 152,000 people, and in the
predominantly agricultural region around it since the quake struck.
However authorities said there were no
reports of further casualties or damage. Early on Sunday, long lines of people
carrying pails and jugs queued for water rations supplied by fire trucks after
the quake cut off tap water supply.
"We're still being hit by aftershocks,
and as of now we do not have tap water supply. The people are suffering,"
provincial information officer Mary Escalante told ABS-CBN television in an
interview.
"Buildings that suffered structural
damage have been closed," she said, adding some schools and gyms that were
meant to serve as evacuation centres were among those damaged by the quake.
The quake also damaged bridges and roads and
knocked out the power supply, though electricity was restored in most of
Surigao on Saturday. President Rodrigo Duterte was scheduled to visit the city
on Sunday to inspect the damage and lead the relief effort, officials said.
An average of five earthquakes, most of them
undetectable except through instruments, hit daily across the Philippines,
which lies on the so-called Ring of Fire, a vast Pacific Ocean region where
many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur. The last lethal quake that hit
the country measured 7.1-magnitude. It left over 220 people dead and destroyed
historic churches when it struck the central islands in October 2013.
The Kunduz province and neighboring Baghlan
and Takhar provinces have been the scene of heavy clashes over the past couple
of months as Taliban has been trying to challenge the government forces in the
once relatively peaceful region.
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