KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews / 17 Oct) – Two persons died while several others were injured as a result of the magnitude 6.3 earthquake that hit Mindanao Wednesday night.
Patients at the Makilala Medical Specialists Hospital in North Cotabato opted to stay out of the building the morning after the magnitude 6.3 earthquake that hit the province and neighboring areas Wednesday night (16 October 2019), fearing damage to the structure. MindaNews photo by GEONARRI O. SOLMERANO
One of the fatalities was six-year-old Janave Senda, who was from neighboring Datu Paglas town in Maguindanao who was rushed to Tulunan District Hospital after she was hit by debris from a damaged cemented wall of her house, according to Tulunan Mayor Reuel Limbongan.
M’lang municipal mayor Russel Abonado confirmed that one of his constituents died of heart attack. The victim’s name is not yet available at this time.
Abonado said that he received reports through the Municipal Disaster Risk and Reduction Management (MDRRM) that a number of his residents were injured as a result of the quake.
In Kidapawan City, Mayor Joseph Evangelista ordered force evacuation of residents of Barangay Ilomavis, a hinterland village located at the foot of Mount Apo, when they monitored landslides and a number of big rocks had fallen as a result of the quake.
Kidapawan was among areas that felt the earthquake the strongest, at Intensity VII, according to Hermes Daquipa, head of the local office of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS)
A resident of Barangay Sto. Niño in Makilala, North Cotabato show damage to her house as a result of the magnitude 6.
3 earthquake that hit the province and neighboring areas Wednesday night (16 October 2019). MindaNews photo by GEONARRI O. SOLMERANO
The PHIVOLCS, in its bulletin, pegged the epicenter’s location at the coordinates 06.75°N, 125.00°E, or somewhere in the southern part of Tulunan near its boundary with Datu Paglas in Maguindanao and Columbia in Sultan Kudarat.
The PHIVOLCS website has listed more than 150 aftershocks as of 11 a.m. Thursday.
Evangelista has also ordered patients from different hospitals to transfer to the city gymnasium while assessment of the integrity of these structures is ongoing.
Acting Cotabato Governor Lala Mendoza has also ordered, through the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, suspension of all classes in all levels in the whole province.
Evangelista has also ordered no work at the city hall.
Work is suspended at the provincial capitol, too. (Malu Cadelina Manar / MindaNews)
