RUSH TO SAFETY. Patients at the Kidapawan Doctors Hospital were rushed out of the hospital building following the magnitude 6.3 quake that hit North Cotabato province on Wednesday (Oct. 16, 2019) night. The patients were temporarily housed in tents by the roadside near the hospital pending damage assessment by local authorities. (File photo courtesy of Romeo Elusfa – Joy FM Kidapawan)
MANILA -- The death toll from the magnitude 6.3 earthquake that struck parts of Mindanao last week rose to seven, authorities said.
In its update Monday, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported that 215 persons were also injured in Regions 11 and 12, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
The fatalities recorded in these regions include a girl from Magsaysay town in Davao del Sur who died after struck by falling objects; a mother and child died when their house was buried in an earthquake-triggered landslide, also from Magsaysay. A girl from Maguindanao was killed when a wall collapsed while three persons from M'lang, Makilala, and Alamada in Cotabato suffered a heart attack.
The earthquake also affected a total of 4,151 families or 20,755 persons residing in 79 barangays in Regions 11 and 12.
Of this number, 269 families or 1,407 individuals are being aided in three evacuation centers while 608 families or 2,978 persons are staying outside evacuation centers.
A total of 3,160 infrastructures in the three regions were reported damaged in the quake, the NDRMMC added.
The strong quake, which traces its epicenter in Tulunan, North Cotabato and is tectonic in origin, also jolted nearby provinces around 7:30 p.m. on October 16. (PNA)
