Metro Manila, Philippines – The death toll from the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Mindanao has risen to 47, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) reported on Thursday morning, June 11.
The number of injuries has climbed to 688, while at least 31 people remain missing. Disaster officials added that the number of displaced individuals has reached 45,609.
According to the OCD, a total of 12,641 homes were damaged in the tremor, of which 2,289 were classified as totally destroyed.
Meanwhile, nearly 3,000 aftershocks have continued to jolt the region since the main earthquake on Monday, June 8. These range in magnitude from 1.3 to 6.4. At 9:56 a.m. on Thursday, state seismologists from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) recorded a powerful magnitude 5.5 aftershock off Sarangani Bay.
In response to the widespread destruction, the provincial government of Sarangani declared a state of calamity on Wednesday due to severe infrastructure damage and the disruption of basic services.
Sarangani officials have extended emergency protocols until June 17, which cover the suspension of face-to-face classes, work adjustments, and ongoing safety sweeps across the province.
