Philippines quake damaging, deadly
MANILA, Philippines — A strong earthquake jolted the central Philippines on Tuesday, killing at least one person, injuring dozens, and damaging houses, two buildings used for coronavirus quarantine, bridges and a port.
A three-story house collapsed in the coastal town of Cataingan as the ground shook. A retired police officer pinned in the debris died, and rescuers were searching for other members of his family. More than 40 people were injured by the quake in Masbate province, according to disaster-response officials.
More than 100 people in quarantine in two damaged Cataingan government buildings were moved to school buildings to ensure their safety, the civil defense agency said. The quake also damaged roads, bridges and a port.
“People should avoid returning immediately to damaged structures,” Rino Revalo, a Masbate provincial administrator, told the ABS-CBN network.
The 6.6-magnitude quake hit about 3 miles from Cataingan at a depth of about 13 miles, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.
The earthquake was set off by a movement of the Philippine Fault, said Renato Solidum, who heads the government volcanology institute. It was felt in several provinces across the central Visayas region.
A magnitude-7.7 quake killed nearly 2,000 people in the northern Philippines in 1990.