5 killed as buildings collapse in strong Philippine quake

MANILA: At least five people were killed when buildings collapsed near Manila after a powerful earthquake set skyscrapers swaying and drove terrified locals into the street.

Rescuers in one area were using heavy equipment and their bare hands to hunt for survivors in the rubble left by the strongest quake to strike close to the densely populated Philippine capital in years.

Three bodies were pulled out of a shopping mall in the town of Porac, while a woman and her grandchild were crushed to death in the town of Lubao, said Lilia Pineda, governor of Pampanga province northwest of Manila.

“We believe there are still people trapped in the fourstorey building,” Pineda said referring to the shopping mall, adding that up to eight people could be dead.

“Our rescuers are telling us there are people in there shouting, begging to be rescued.” Rescuers, working under floodlights, pried at the flattened structure with a crane in the disaster-prone nation.

“It’s difficult because there is no power, so we’re still trying to get hold of a generator to be able to rescue the people inside,” the governor added.

The quake, with a magnitude of 6.3, struck the region at 5:11 pm according to the US Geological Survey.

“The Pampanga region took a direct hit,” civil defence spokesman Edgar Posadas told reporters, with a 17th-century Catholic church, an airport and a toll road in the area all reporting damage, while a landslide struck another town.

The quake that rumbled across the northern Philippines also caused skyscrapers to sway, as they are designed to do, in Manila.

Thousands of travellers were stranded after aviation authorities shut down the secondary Clark Airport, which is located on the site of the former US military installation that lies about an hour’s drive north of the capital.