Almost 3,000 aftershocks logged after Mindanao quake

MANILA, June 11 ------ The deadly earthquake that jolted Mindanao this week has spawned at least 2,980 aftershocks as of Thursday morning, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.

Out of the total, 783 aftershocks were plotted, while 61 were strong enough to be felt, Phivolcs said. The strongest aftershock so far was at magnitude 6.4, it said. Phivolcs earlier said the aftershocks could last for weeks.

Monday’s 7.8-magnitude tremor just off the coast of Mindanao brought down buildings, triggered landslides and set off tsunami warnings. The national disaster agency raised the death toll to 45 on Wednesday, while the number of people missing jumped dramatically from four to 17.

Most of the additional dead were from Davao Occidental province, and most had been killed in landslides or collapsing buildings, civil defense official Rafaelito Alejandro said in a radio interview.

Source: news.abs-cbn.com