MANILA – At least three people were killed when a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Davao del Sur on Sunday.
A 6-year-old girl was among the fatality from Barangay Asinan, Matanao town. She was inside her family’s house when the building collapsed and killed her, the province’s governor, Douglas Cagas said.
The two persons were identified as 57-year-old Elsa Ababon and 67-year-old Vangie Artiaga were retrieved from the collapsed Trade Grocery Store in Padada.
Various reports said that there are still around seven people who were inside the three-storey department store with signs of life.
“Meron pa kaming mga nakita. We had visual locations kung nasaan sila banda sa department store,” Christopher Tan of Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office told CNN Philippines.
“We have already taken out two cadavers. Now, the operations are ongoing. But the retrieval officers said that they have detected a heartbeat using an equipment. We are strategizing how to pull him out. Hopefully he can survive,” he added.
The first fatality recorded was a 6-year-old girl was reported dead after being unable to flee her house before it collapsed.
As of Monday morning, at least 179 aftershocks were recorded in Davao del Sur. The quake struck the province around 2:11 p.m. on Sunday with a depth of three kilometers, and with its epicenter located nine kilometers west of Matanao./PN
