6.1 quake kills 11 Filipinos, traps others
PORAC, Philippines — A 6.1-magnitude earthquake killed 11 people and trapped several others Monday in a collapsed supermarket in a northern Philippine province, where an international airport terminal was closed because of damage, officials said.
Mayor Condralito dela Cruz of Porac town in Pampanga province, north of Manila, said rescuers pulled two survivors from the collapsed building, where other trapped people could be heard screaming for help as rescuers struggled to save them. Rescue work picked up pace after four cranes arrived at the scene, where Red Cross volunteers, police and soldiers helped out.
A child was one of two dead people pulled out from the rubble earlier in the day. The leg of one of the two survivors had to be amputated to extricate him, Porac Councilor Maynard Lapid said, adding that at least eight trapped people could be heard pleading for help at one point.
At least 24 people remained unaccounted for at the collapsed Chuzon supermarket, based on a rough accounting of its employees, Lapid said.
Pampanga Gov. Lilia Pineda told DZMM radio that she had received reports that the quake left at least eight people dead in her province, a rice-growing agricultural region, but could not provide details. Cellphone signals were erratic in the province.
The quake also damaged an airport terminal at Clark freeport, a former U.S. Air Force base, and an old Roman Catholic church in Pampanga, and caused cracks in highways and bridges, Pineda and other officials said.