Philippines Begins Cleanup After Major Earthquakes That Killed at Least 8

October 11, 2025 | 08:22 pm

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Survivors of the massive earthquakes in southern Philippines were left confused when they woke up on Saturday, October 11, 2025, to scenes of devastation after hundreds of aftershocks rocked the area overnight.

Many coastal residents of Mindanao Island slept outside, fearing that the aftershocks of 7.4 and 6.8 magnitude earthquakes, which occurred off the coast within hours of each other on Friday, would cause their homes to collapse.

Authorities in the Philippines have reported at least eight people dead.

Ezzra James Fernandez, a Civil Defense Office Information Officer, stated that there are no reports of missing persons.

"As to the initial assessment yesterday, the (infrastructure) damage is minimal," Fernandez said as quoted by Al Arabiya, adding that road clearing operations are underway and most roads are already passable.

In Manay, a municipality in Mindanao with a population of 40,000, residents were clearing debris and sweeping shards of glass from homes and other structures on Saturday morning.

The devastation occurred less than two weeks after a 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck Cebu Island in central Philippines, killing 75 people and destroying around 72,000 homes.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has instructed government agencies to continue relief operations, according to Presidential Communications Office Secretary Dave Gomez.

"The President’s paramount concern is the safety and well-being of our people in the earthquake-struck areas," Gomez told reporters.

800 Aftershocks

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology recorded over 800 aftershocks since the initial earthquake hit Mindanao, which is riddled with major fault lines. These aftershocks are expected to continue for weeks.

Some in Manay slept in tents, under tarpaulins and makeshift hanging beds, inside vehicles, and on mats laid out in parks or along the roadside as aftershocks continued to shake the densely populated area of 1.8 million people.

In the badly damaged government hospital in Manay, patients lay outside waiting for treatment.

Many were moved out on Friday as government engineers said the building had sustained structural damage.

In Mati, about a two-hour drive southwest along the coast, Margarita Mulle and her relatives held a memorial service for her deceased sister, despite neighbors keeping their distance after the tsunami warning was lifted.

"In case something happens, they (relatives) will carry the body using a ‘tora-tora’," said Mulle while in tears, using a local term for a hand-pulled cart, which is the main mode of transportation in rural southern areas.

Earthquakes occur nearly every day in the Philippines, which is located in the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

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