Earthquakes strike Philippines

impassable road - screenshot

Source: UCAN/Vatican Media

A new powerful earthquake hit the central Philippines on Tuesday, 23 April, a day after 6.1 quake hit the country's north and killed at least 11 people. Rescue teams in the Philippines searched for signs of life beneath the rubble of a collapsed four-storey commercial building today after a strong earthquake shook the country's biggest island, killing at least 15 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 110 km (68 miles) north of Manila, where a 6.1 magnitude earthquake damaged several buildings on Monday.

Two people were rescued there on Tuesday, adding to seven found alive and four found dead overnight in the mix of rubble and mangled metal that caved in on a ground floor supermarket in the worst recorded incident. 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.

The quake, which struck at 5pm local time (0900 GMT) 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 on Tuesday afternoon, according to the USGS.

There were no immediate reports of destruction there but the national seismology agency said damage could be expected from what it recorded as a 6.2 magnitude quake.

The Archdiocesan Committee on Church Heritage in San Fernando, about 80 kilometres north of the capital, Manila announced that all heritage churches have been closed to the public. "Upon consulting our technical experts we recommend a lockdown of all heritage churches until they are deemed safe" a message on social media states.

Among the damaged buildings is the bell tower of St Catherine of Alexandria Church in Porac and the belfry of San Agustin Church in Lubao. Cracks have appeared in the ceiling of the Metropolitan Cathedral of San Fernando, inside the Holy Rosary parish church ion Anfgeles City and at the parish church and convent of St James the Apostle in Betis.