More quake-hit areas can now be accessed, expected to yield bodies
The death toll from the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that rocked southern Mindanao on Monday has slightly climbed to 47 but the number may spike as access to some of the most affected areas has been partially restored, making it possible to retrieve more bodies.
In a situational report, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said 35 of the reported deaths originated from Soccsksargen and 12 from the Davao region as of 8 a.m. on June 11.
Office of Civil Defense Deputy Administrator Raffy Alejandro said the numbers were being validated and verified by the mass casualty cluster led by the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
“It’s rather difficult to collate because of the lack of internet and the intermittent signals. We want our data to be accurate,” Alejandro said in an interview with dzRH.
The NDRRMC also said 688 persons have been reported injured, while 31 others remain missing.
Still hard to reach
Local officials said landslides and heavily damaged roads have isolated several areas, particularly Glan in Sarangani, where at least 20 dead bodies have been recovered as of Thursday morning.
Glan, which has been cut off since the morning of June 8, has declared a state of calamity. Malapatan and Alabel also made separate declarations.
Glan Mayor Victor James Yap Sr. told reporters “many more” bodies were still to be retrieved.
“Many more are believed dead. We could not access other areas because we don’t have fuel for our heavy equipment to clear the landslides,” he said. “Our death count is 20, and still counting. There are many more that we’ve not recovered as their locations are inaccessible.”
Yap identified the villages of Mudan, Calpidong and New Aklan as among those still hard to reach.
He said workers from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) on Thursday have fixed portions of the highway that were damaged, allowing movement of vehicles to and from General Santos City.
In General Santos City, search and retrieval teams recovered the remains of Babylyn Angcad, 28, of Cotabato City. Angcad is the last reported missing person in the collapsed Savemore Supermarket in Barangay Calumpang, ending a three-day search and retrieval operation.
Baffling
According to a social media post by the Coast Guard District Southern Mindanao, personnel from the Philippine Red Cross used a human detection device to help narrow down Angcad’s location.
Maasim, Sarangani, the epicenter, meanwhile had no deaths and reported only insignificant infrastructure damage, baffling residents.
The earthquake struck 32 kilometers southwest of Maasim.
“The shaking was terrible you can see the houses and trees wildly swaying. The quake forced my family down on our knees—it’s impossible to walk with that terribly strong temblor,” Catalino Ramos, one of the residents, told the Inquirer in Filipino.
Ramos noted that their two-bedroom house suffered just very minimal cracks: “I’m bewildered but I am thankful to God.”
Mayor Zyrex Pacquiao was also baffled by the minimal impact to the first-class town, which hosts an economic zone with a coal power station and a Chinese-owned steel manufacturing plant undergoing construction.
“The national and provincial governments were expecting we would be badly impacted by the powerful quake because our town was the epicenter,” he told the Inquirer.
Most of the evacuees who lived in coastal villages did not report any damage to their homes but fled for fear of a tsunami, Pacquiao said.
The Inquirer checked the población area and found no significant damage in public and private infrastructure, including the public market where old structures remained standing.
Aftershocks
A total of 3,019 aftershocks have already been recorded, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
In its latest bulletin as of 11 a.m. on June 11, Phivolcs said the aftershocks ranged between magnitudes 1.2 and 6.4.
Of the 3,019 aftershocks recorded so far, 790 of them were plotted and 61 were felt.
Senators’ visit
Among the most recent aftershocks with the strongest magnitudes was a magnitude 5.5 earthquake that occurred 67 km southwest of Balut Island in Sarangani town, Davao Occidental, around 9:56 a.m. on Thursday, according to initial data from Phivolcs.
Senate President Pro Tempore Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian and Senators Erwin Tulfo, JV Ejercito, and Migz Zubiri from the Senate “new majority,” meanwhile, visited Sarangani and General Santos City on Thursday.
The visit was to assess the extent of the damage and to turn over P2.5 million in cash assistance and sacks of rice to affected families.
“This shows how important it is for our infrastructure to be designed and built to withstand major earthquakes,” Gatchalian said in an interview.
He urged the government to use the P180 billion worth of funds under the 2026 national budget for emergency response and rehabilitation efforts in the quake-hit areas
Ejercito said they spoke with local government officials to identify bridges and roads that must be prioritized, while Zubiri said they hope to bring long-term help.
Review infra projects
Tulfo, who chairs the Senate blue ribbon committee that has been investigating anomalous flood control projects, said they would coordinate with the DPWH to review the quality of infrastructure projects, particularly school buildings.
On Thursday, the Mindanao State University-General Santos City (MSU-GSC) campus has appealed for immediate assistance after the earthquake damaged infrastructure worth an estimated P900 million.
“We need close to a billion to get back to normal,” said Shidik Zed Abantas, MSU-GSC chancellor, in an interview with Bagwis, the school’s student publication.
MSU-GSC has an estimated annual student population of around 10,000 studying in three locations. It serves Moro, indigenous peoples and other underserved communities in southwestern Mindanao. —WITH REPORTS FROM JASON SIGALES, BONG S. SARMIENTO, GUIA A. REBOLLIDO, ISABELLE PECHAY AND TINA G. SANTOS
