The death toll from the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that struck the southern Philippines last week has risen to 61, with 40 missing and over 1,400 injured, the national disaster agency said Sunday.
More than 720,000 people were affected by the June 8 quake in Sarangani province, more than 1,000 kilometres south of Manila, the agency said.
The earthquake caused extensive damage, destroying or damaging approximately 63,900 houses and resulting in infrastructure losses estimated at 1 billion pesos ($16.5 million), the agency said.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Asia and the Pacific (OCHA), the damage to roads and bridges has isolated several communities, hindering relief operations.
“Essential services remain disrupted, including the closure of General Santos International Airport to commercial flights, persistent power outages in several areas and limited access to some municipalities and island communities,” the OCHA added.
Philippine authorities said they were rushing to repair damaged infrastructure to expedite the delivery of relief supplies to the affected population, some of whom have complained of a lack of assistance.
The earthquake prompted the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) to issue a tsunami alert, and coastal areas were hit by waves as high as as high as 1.4 metres.
Phivolcs said the tremor altered some parts of the coastlines of the provinces of Sarangani and Davao Occidental, where formerly submerged corals are now exposed.
The phenomenon, known as “coastal uplift,” was found in the municipality of Glan in Sarangani and Jose Abad Santos in Davao Occidental.
