SECOND POWERFUL QUAKE STRIKES THE PHILIPPINES
Fear of aftershocks as rescuers hunt for survivors after Monday’s quake
PHILIPPINE rescuers were scrambling yesterday to reach some two dozen people feared buried under a building near Manila that collapsed a day earlier in a strong earthquake, as a powerful new tremor hit the nation.
The US Geological Survey put the fresh quake on the central island of Samar at 6.3 magnitude, which is stronger than the one that hit close to the capital in the north on Monday.
Authorities were assessing possible damage from the latest quake, which struck at a depth of 70km, but warned that residents should expect aftershocks.
The worst of Monday’s damage was in the province of Pampanga, which was the site of most of the 11 fatalities, disaster officials said.
More than 100 others were injured by falling rubble, including in Manila, according to police.
The toll could rise as crews fanned out across the mostly rural region to assess damage in isolated hamlets that lost power and communications in one of
the area’s strongest tremors in years.
More than 400 aftershocks have been registered since the initial quake, Philippine seismologists said.
Scores of rescuers here were using cranes and jackhammers to peel back the pancaked concrete structure of a four-storey market building where the Red Cross said 24 people were unaccounted for.
“Every minute, every second is critical in this rescue,” Cris Palcis, a volunteer sniffer dog handler, said.
“Time is short for the people under the rubble so we have to be quick.”
Pampanga Governor Lilia Pineda told journalists that rescuers could still hear at least one person trapped beneath the rubble, but the digging was proceeding delicately to avoid accidentally crushing the survivor.
The quake also damaged several centuries-old churches, which were crowded with worshippers in recent days as the majority-Catholic Philippines marked the Easter holiday.