8 killed in aftermath of 2 severe quakes off Davao Oriental – reports
MATI, Philippines — Two strong quakes struck off Davao towns on Friday, killing at least eight people and triggering tsunami warnings.
The biggest of the quakes, with a magnitude of 7.4, hit about 20 kilometres (12 miles) off Manay, Davao Oriental in the Mindanao region just before 10 am (0100 GMT), according to the United States Geological Survey.
An aftershock with a magnitude of 6.7 rocked the same area almost 10 hours later, one of scores that followed the morning quake.
Both came 11 days after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake killed 75 people and injured more than 1,200 in Cebu province in the central Philippines, according to official data.
Three miners tunnelling for gold were killed when a shaft collapsed in the mountains west of Manay during the larger quake, rescue official Kent Simeon of Pantukan town told AFP.
One miner was pulled out alive and several others were injured in the remote hamlet of Gumayan, he said.
"Some tunnels collapsed, but the miners managed to get out," Simeon said.
One person was killed in Mati city when a wall collapsed, while two others suffered fatal heart attacks, city disaster official Charlemagne Bagasol told AFP.
Another person was crushed by falling debris in Davao city, more than 100 kilometres west of the epicentre, police said.
A third heart attack victim died in the town of Montevista, provincial disaster official Ednar Dayanghirang told reporters.
Philippine authorities issued tsunami warnings shortly after the morning quake as well as for the early evening one, ordering evacuations along the eastern seaboard, though no big waves had been monitored.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center lifted its own alert for the Philippines, Palau and Indonesia at around noon.
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