Magnitude 7.8 Earthquake: General Santos City. A Regional Hub Of 722,000 People And The Centre Of The Philippines’ Tuna Export Industry Sustained Some Of The Most Serious Damage, With Parts Of St. Elizabeth Hospital So Severely Affected That Patients Had To Be Evacuated And Treated Outside The Main Building
According to AP News, Al Jazeera, NPR and CBS News, an offshore magnitude 7.8 earthquake rocked the southern Philippines on Monday, killing at least 32 people, injuring more than 200 others and sending a 1-meter tsunami into nearby coasts.
The earthquake struck off the island of Mindanao shortly before 7:40am local time, according to the United States Geological Survey. The initial earthquake was followed by more than an hour of aftershocks, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
General Santos, a city of 722,000 people in southern Mindanao, sustained some of the most serious damage. Police spokesperson Robert Dagun told a local radio station that parts of the city’s St Elizabeth Hospital were severely damaged, forcing patients and medical personnel to evacuate and temporarily operate outside the main hospital building.
Regional disaster-response official Ednar Dayanghirang told the AP he “could hardly stand and keep balance when the ground shook” as he was leaving his house in the southern port city of Davao. It was the strongest quake to strike the Philippines this year, centred at sea off Mindanao, the second most populous island in the Philippines.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the threat of a tsunami had largely passed about five hours after the quake struck. The Philippines sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is among the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, experiencing multiple significant seismic events every year due to its position at the intersection of several major tectonic plates.
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