At least 16 killed in Philippines quake
PORAC: Rescue teams in the Philippines searched for signs of life beneath the rubble of a collapsed fourstorey commercial building yesterday after an earthquake shook the country’s biggest island, killing at least 16 people.
Heavy lifting equipment and search dogs were used as dozens of firefighters, military and civilian rescue teams raced to shift lumps of concrete in a commercial area of Porac, about 110km north of Manila, where a 6.1magnitude earthquake damaged several buildings on Monday.
Two people were rescued there yesterday, adding to seven found alive and four found dead overnight in the mix of rubble and mangled metal that caved in on a groundfloor supermarket.
Most deaths were confined to parts of Pampanga province, where the governor said investigations would be held to determine why only certain buildings were damaged while others were intact.
Porac Mayor Condralito Dela Cruz said the earthquake was the most intense the town had ever experienced.
‘‘We’re not sure how many people are trapped still,’’ he told television news channel ANC. ‘‘We can still hear some voices, the voice of a woman.’’
The quake, which struck at 5pm local time (9pm NZ time) on Monday, was initially reported as a magnitude 6.3 but was later revised down to 6.1 by the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Another, stronger earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 struck in Samar in the southern Philippines yesterday afternoon, the USGS said.
There were no immediate reports of destruction there but the national seismology agency said damage could be expected from what it recorded as a 6.2magnitude quake.
Aurelia Daeng (65) was in her family store in Porac when Monday’s quake struck, breaking windows, leaving cracks in the floor and destroying one wall of her home.
‘‘It was very strong. It was our first time experiencing something like that,’’ she said.
‘‘This one, it’s terrifying.’’