Aftershocks & Chaos in Mindanao

Hundreds of aftershocks have jolted southern Philippines since a magnitude 7.8 quake struck Monday, killing 37 and injuring 487 people. Emergency crews reach coastal cities and towns as the scale of the devastation becomes clear.

Buildings collapsed, roads were cracked or buried by landslides, and entire areas remain without electricity or telephone connectivity. The quake also triggered tsunami warnings in Indonesia, the southern tip of Mindanao and Japan’s Pacific coast.

“We hope the death toll does not increase further, but we are expecting it to move,” said Bernardo Alejandro, assistant secretary for disaster response. His priority is search and rescue amid nearly 2,000 homes and 6,000 public schools damaged.

The event came from movement on the Cotabato Trench, a known source of large quakes. A 1976 slip there produced a 7.9 quake and a deadly tsunami that killed about 5,000 people.

In school towns, parents and teachers survived because students were outside during the weekly Monday assembly. Seismologist Renato Solidum explained that “they were lucky to be outside and stayed put.”

A viral clip showed a Jollibee restaurant in General Santos City collapsing, prompting the fast‑food chain to affirm that all its staff in quake‑hit areas were safe.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. mobilised the entire government to respond, with transportation and health secretaries flying to Mindanao to oversee relief efforts. However, access to some towns remains difficult; landslides have buried major highways, forcing relief goods to be flown into remote villages.