{"id":13967,"date":"2026-06-10T20:02:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T20:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=13967"},"modified":"2026-06-10T20:02:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T20:02:56","slug":"aftershocks-complicate-philippine-recovery-from-quake-that-killed-45-and-displaced-thousands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=13967","title":{"rendered":"Aftershocks complicate Philippine recovery from quake that killed 45 and displaced thousands"},"content":{"rendered":"

By JOEAL CALUPITAN and BASILIO SEPE<\/strong><\/p>\n

GENERAL SANTOS, Philippines (AP) \u2014 Dozens of rescuers in hard hats scrambled out of a partially collapsed grocery in a southern Philippine city Wednesday as it was rattled by an aftershock from a powerful earthquake that left at least 45 people dead and 17 others missing in the region.<\/p>

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A safety officer blew his whistle and others screamed to warn about 30 firefighters and coast guard personnel to dash to safety as concrete debris crashed down from the leaning three-story building in General Santos city in a frantic scene witnessed by an AP video journalist.<\/p>\n

The coastal city, a bustling commercial hub and the country\u2019s tuna capital, was devastated by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Monday and left a trail of destruction across southern Mindanao, the Philippines\u2019 second-most populous region.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a strong aftershock and an alarm was immediately sounded so those inside and under the damaged building can run out for a headcount,\u201d said Ressa Mia Tactaquin-Betoya, who speaks for the firefighters searching for the last employee missing in the ruined grocery, where two upper floors collapsed during the initial quake.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was scary because we don\u2019t want our rescuers to be harmed so the area must be secured before they can go back in,\u201d she told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

The earthquake has been followed by more than 2,100 aftershocks including a few that ranged up to 6.4 magnitude, which is strong enough to cause more casualties and damage, according to Teresito Bacolcol, who heads the Philippines Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.<\/p>\n

More than 25,000 people remain displaced, many of them staying in 45 government-run emergency shelters and still too traumatized to return home, officials said.<\/p>

\n<\/div>\n

Monday\u2019s quake was one of the most powerful to hit the Philippines in a half century. It injured at least 630 people and damaged more than 3,100 houses, 29 roads, 11 bridges and more than 100 government buildings.<\/p>\n