A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of the southern Philippines on Monday morning, killing at least 32 people, injuring dozens more and displacing tens of thousands, according to civil defense officials, as the shaking toppled buildings and damaged bridges.
The quake, which hit at around 7:37 a.m. local time, was the most powerful to strike the Philippines in 50 years, according to U.S. Geological Survey figures. The temblor killed 19 and caused widespread damage in the provinces of Sarangani and South Cotabato. A landslide caused by the quake killed an additional 13 in Glan, a town in Sarangani.
“We don’t have a complete picture of the damage, but there are plenty of structures that are cracked,” said Rodrigo O. Sosmena, a senior official at the national Office of Civil Defense who is based in General Santos, a city in the province of South Cotabato. In addition to the deaths, 134 others were injured and about 70,000 people were displaced, according to disaster management and civil defense officials, with about a dozen people still missing.
Many of the deaths, the authorities said, occurred in General Santos, which has a population of about 700,000 and is known as the tuna capital of the Philippines. The city, and the other worst-affected areas, are on the southern tip of Mindanao, the second-largest island in the country, after Luzon. The region is in one of the most earthquake-prone zones of the Philippines.
The Office of Civil Defense said that General Santos International Airport had been damaged, and the Civil Aviation Authority suspended all operations there and canceled 17 flights.
There were also disruptions to power and communications, and “major damage” to infrastructure, the Office of Civil Defense said. Social media footage appeared to show a shopping plaza crumbling into a heap in General Santos.
Nena Santos, a 72-year-old lawyer in General Santos, was on her way to the airport in a car when the quake struck. She said the shaking was the strongest she had ever experienced and that the temblor seemed to last for five minutes.
“I just closed my eyes and said, ‘Lord, please, enough,’” Ms. Santos said by telephone.
Ms. Santos said that she saw collapsed buildings, and noted police cars and ambulances rushing through the streets, with students screaming outside schools.
Julius Golez, who lives with his family about 300 yards from the coast in General Santos, said that he had scrambled to carry his 6-year-old from a bedroom to find higher ground.
“I was very scared, my knees were trembling,” he said. “We were crying; so many other people were also crying.”
The quake struck on the first day of school after a two-month break. Video footage appeared to show elementary school students crying and screaming after the makeshift roof of a nearby structure collapsed.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. of the Philippines said in a statement that he had ordered school closures in all the affected areas on Mindanao, adding that the government was mobilizing its disaster response.
Tsunami warnings issued by the authorities in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia were later downgraded. As of Monday afternoon, Japan had a tsunami advisory in force.
The Philippines is part of the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped chain of seismologically and geologically active islands that surround the Pacific Ocean.
In October, a strong earthquake struck off the eastern coast of Mindanao, killing at least seven people and injuring hundreds more.
John Keefe contributed reporting.
