UMVA has learned that a devastating offshore magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the southern Philippines on Monday, unleashing a trail of destruction and chaos that has left at least 32 people dead and over 200 injured.
The quake, which was centered at sea off Mindanao, the second most populous island in the Philippine archipelago, triggered widespread panic and destruction, with several mostly low-rise buildings collapsing or sustaining heavy damages in the hard-hit city of General Santos.
As the earthquake ravaged the region, a 1-meter (3-foot) tsunami was triggered, inundating nearby coasts and causing further devastation, with tsunami damage reported in at least one southern coastal village.
In the aftermath of the disaster, a landslide in Glan, a municipality in the province of Sarangani, claimed the lives of 13 villagers, while four other villagers died in Sarangani, officials confirmed.
The earthquake was the strongest to hit the Philippines this year, and officials warned people to exercise extreme caution and seek advice before returning to damaged buildings and houses, which could collapse due to aftershocks.
As the situation continues to unfold, the United States, a treaty ally of the Philippines, has pledged support and is coordinating with Manila to provide aid and assistance to those affected.
"Our pickup truck suddenly jerked and I thought we had a flat tire," Rod Sosmeña, a regional director of the Office of Civil Defense, recounted, describing the terrifying moment when the quake struck at 7:37 a.m.
The epicenter of the quake was located at a depth of 33 kilometers (20 miles), about 32 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of Maasim town in Sarangani province, and was felt as far away as Malaysia's Sabah state on Borneo island.
In the rural town of Malita in Davao Occidental province, over 100 students in uniforms and a dozen teachers had gathered for a flag-raising ceremony when the ground shook, turning the first day of school after a two-month summer break into chaos.
At least 12 people remained missing in General Santos, a port city of more than 700,000 people and a regional hub for the tuna export industry, as search and rescue teams scrambled to find those who may have been trapped in collapsed or severely damaged buildings.
The international airport in General Santos was temporarily shut due to the earthquake, and 17 domestic flights were canceled, while the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the threat of a tsunami largely passed about five hours after the quake.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered the cancellation of classes and directed disaster-response agencies to immediately get to work in quake-hit provinces, vowing that "the national government is moving and we will not leave Mindanao behind."
The Philippines, one of the world's most disaster-prone countries, is often hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of seismic faults around the ocean.
