Doctors yesterday treated patients in tents set up under a scorching Philippine sun — including helping a young mother give birth — as the death toll from a major earthquake that collapsed buildings topped 40.
Thousands remained displaced and more than 450 injured following the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck off the southern island of Mindanao on Monday, with four people now believed missing, authorities said.
In hardest-hit Sarangani Province, some areas remain accessible only by helicopter while fears of aftershocks were slowing rescue efforts, local officials told reporters at a briefing yesterday.
Photo: AFP
“There are still aftershocks, so the rescuers are very cautious in their approach. That’s a challenge,” regional civil defense chief Rodrigo Sosmena said.
A series of powerful aftershocks rocked the area from about two hours after the first quake, while hundreds of tiny tremors followed.
Meanwhile, infrastructure damage means some communities would be cut off for at least a week because of the damage to roads and the collapse of a bridge.
At a hospital just outside General Santos, the region’s largest city, a mother gave birth outdoors behind a makeshift screen.
In Glan municipality, where at least 13 people were buried in their homes by a landslide, staff at another hospital said that more than 60 patients were on beds outside the facility due to fears for the building’s structural integrity.
“The hospital sustained a lot of damage,” she said. “The municipal engineer decided we could not use the building.”
As of yesterday afternoon, the death toll stood at 41.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
‘GRAY ZONE’ PRESSURE: Beijing’s activities are intended to create the deceitful impression that China has jurisdiction over the area around Taiwan, the CGA said Taiwan’s rights over its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone must not be violated by any country, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that it will not accept any unprovoked actions. The council issued the remarks in response to the China Coast Guard conducting maritime enforcement drills near eastern Taiwan and claiming to fully exercise China’s maritime administrative law enforcement authority. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has been closely monitoring the situation and is taking concrete steps to defend the nation’s sovereignty and secure its waters, the council said. China has no sovereign rights over the waters off eastern
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RSS