Philippine officials say that years of disaster-preparedness drills helped prevent a larger casualty toll when one of the strongest earthquakes in 50 years struck the south. It left 46 people dead with 38 others still missing. The 7.8 magnitude offshore quake struck Monday off the southern province of Sarangani. The temblor also injured about 688 people and displaced more than 45,000 people. About half the displaced were still in emergency shelters on Friday. The quake damaged more than 12,600 houses across farming towns and cities. Provincial officials said that many were still too traumatized to return home because of strong aftershocks.
Rescuers are searching ruined buildings in the southern Philippines to ensure no one was still trapped a day after the strongest earthquake to hit the country in a half-century killed at least 37 people and displaced more than 32,000. Only four people were considered missing on official records in the southern provinces near where the 7.8 magnitude quake struck Monday morning. However, the Office of Civil Defense acknowledged several collapsed and heavily damaged buildings must be thoroughly inspected for possible survivors or casualties. The earthquake was centered off Mindanao and displaced more than 20,000, most of whom fled to emergency shelters.
A series of small earthquakes rattled the San Francisco Bay Area in an area that's had a lot of seismic activity in recent months. The most powerful of Monday's quakes was a magnitude 4.2 that struck shortly after 7 a.m. just south of San Ramon, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. At least a dozen other smaller quakes struck in the same area starting around 6:30 a.m. and continuing for more than an hour. There were no immediate reports of damage. Bay Area Rapid Transit said delays could result from trains briefly running at reduced speeds during track safety inspections. Shaking was felt more than 30 miles away in San Francisco.
A strong earthquake rattled southern and central Mexico, interrupting President Claudia Sheinbaum's first press briefing of the new year as seismic alarms sounded. Friday's quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 and its epicenter was near the town of San Marcos in the southern state of Guerrero near the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco, according to Mexico's national seismological agency. The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake occurred at a depth of 21.7 miles (35 kilometers). There were no immediate report of damage or casualties.
By JOEAL CALUPITAN and AARON FAVILA Associated Press
Rescuers are using backhoes and sniffer dogs to look for survivors in collapsed houses and other damaged buildings in the central Philippines, a day after an earthquake killed at least 69 people. Officials say the death toll is expected to rise from the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that hit at about 10 p.m. Tuesday. The quake trapped an unspecified number of residents in the hard-hit city of Bogo and outlying rural towns in Cebu province. Army troops, police and civilian volunteers were deployed Wednesday to carry out house-to-house searches. Officials say intermittent rain and damaged bridges and roads have hampered the race to save lives.
