The death toll from the magnitude 6.9 earthquake in the central Philippines has risen to 72, officials confirmed.
With search operations now complete and “zero missing”, according to National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) spokesman Junie Castillo, authorities on Thursday shifted focus to supporting the injured and displaced.
Rescue teams recovered three more bodies overnight from a collapsed hotel in Bogo City, near the epicentre. With all victims now accounted for, some rescue units in Cebu province have been instructed to “demobilise”.
During his Thursday visit to the disaster zone, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr announced plans for a “tent city” to accommodate residents from the 600 destroyed homes and thousands more who fear returning to their intact houses due to continuing aftershocks. “We will build a tent city that can be put up swiftly and will shield people from rain,” he told reporters, promising essential utilities.
The government has documented 294 injuries and approximately 20,000 evacuees across northern Cebu, many sleeping outdoors. Regional civil defence officials estimate more than 110,000 people across 42 communities will need assistance rebuilding homes and restoring livelihoods.
Marcos committed to restoring electricity to Bogo, a city of 90,000, by day’s end and providing 10,000 pesos ($171) to each family that lost their home. His visit included touring a damaged housing project originally built for 2013 Super Typhoon Haiyan survivors, where eight bodies were recovered.
In a village chapel now serving as shelter, 18-year-old Diane Madrigal expressed her ongoing anxiety: “I am still scared of the aftershocks up to now; it feels like we have to run again.”
Nearby, Lucille Ipil, 43, waiting for water, lamented, “The earthquake really ruined our lives. We cannot eat, drink or bathe properly.”
While healthcare services remain compromised with numerous patients in tents outside the damaged provincial hospital, Marcos later announced government engineers had declared the facility safe for patients to return indoors.
The Philippines experiences frequent earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, a zone of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.