MANAY, Philippines: Dazed survivors of a pair of major earthquakes in the southern Philippines awoke on Saturday to scenes of devastation, after hundreds of aftershocks rocked the region overnight.
Many coastal residents of Mindanao island had slept outdoors, fearful of being crushed to death by aftershocks of the 7.4- and 6.7-magnitude quakes that struck off the coast within hours of each other on Friday.
Philippine authorities said at least eight people were killed but they were still assessing the extent of the damage.
In Manay, a Mindanao municipality of 40,000, people were removing debris and sweeping up broken glass from homes and other buildings Saturday morning.
“Our small house and our small store were destroyed,” resident Ven Lupogan said.
“We have nowhere to sleep. There’s no electricity. We have nothing to eat.”
The destruction came less than two weeks after a 6.9-magnitude quake struck the central Philippine island of Cebu, killing 75 people and wrecking about 72,000 houses.
800 aftershocks
Some people in Manay slept in tents, under improvised tarps and hammocks, inside vehicles, and on mats laid out in parks or the sides of streets as aftershocks rippled across the region of 1.8 million people.
At the heavily damaged Manay government hospital, patients lay on beds outside waiting for treatment.
Many had been wheeled out on Friday because government engineers said the building had been structurally compromised.
Nearby shopkeepers cleaned up broken glass and put merchandise back on shelves, AFP journalists saw.
Vilma Lagnayo scrambled to save her family’s clothes and belongings from their collapsed Manay home.
“Reconstructing (our home) is difficult now... Money is a problem,” Lagnayo said.
The Philippine seismology office has recorded more than 800 aftershocks since the first quake struck Mindanao, which is riddled by major faults. It said these are expected to last for weeks.
In Mati, about two hours’ drive southwest along the coast, Margarita Mulle and her relatives held a wake for her older sister who had earlier died from disease, even as neighbors stayed away after tsunami warnings that have since been lifted.
“In case something happens, they (relatives) will carry the body using a ‘tora-tora’,” a tearful Mulle said, using a local term for a hand tractor-drawn cart that is a major mode of transport in rural areas of the south.
Earthquakes are a near-daily occurrence in the Philippines, which is situated on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
An 8.0-magnitude quake off Mindanao island’s southwest coast in 1976 unleashed a tsunami that left 8,000 people dead or missing, the Philippines’ deadliest natural disaster.
Philippines begins clean-up after powerful twin quakes
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Philippines begins clean-up after powerful twin quakes
- Destruction comes less than two weeks after a 6.9-magnitude quake struck the central Philippine island of Cebu
- Earthquakes are a near-daily occurrence in the Philippines, which is situated on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”
UK police hunt suspects after 600 items relating to the British Empire are stolen from a museum
- The Avon and Somerset Police force said the items with “significant cultural value”
- The force said it wanted to speak to four men over the theft and appealed to the public for information
LONDON: More than 600 artifacts relating to the history of the British Empire and Commonwealth have been stolen from the collection of Bristol Museum, police said Thursday as they released images of four suspects.
The Avon and Somerset Police force said the items with “significant cultural value” were taken from a storage building in the early hours of Sept. 25.
The force said it wanted to speak to four men over the theft and appealed to the public for information.
It was unclear why the appeal was being made more than two months after the crime.
“The theft of many items which carry a significant cultural value is a significant loss for the city,” said Det. Constable Dan Burgan.
“These items, many of which were donations, form part of a collection that provides insight into a multilayered part of British history, and we are hoping that members of the public can help us to bring those responsible to justice.”
The port city of Bristol, 120 miles (195 kilometers) southwest of London, played a major role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Ships based in the city transported at least half a million Africans into slavery before Britain outlawed the slave trade in 1807. Many 18th-century Bristolians helped fund the trade and shared in the profits, which also built handsome Georgian houses and buildings that still dot the city.
It was the focus of international attention and debate in 2020, when anti-racism demonstrators toppled a statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston from its plinth in the city and dumped it in the River Avon.
The vandalized statue was later fished out and put on display in a museum.
