Philippines | Pakistan

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake in the southern Philippines on Monday killed at least 31 people, according to provincial authorities, after toppling buildings and sparking tsunami warnings across the region. National disaster authorities said at least a dozen people were still missing, while 134 had sustained injuries. Philippine authorities urged people in affected coastal regions to move to higher ground after the offshore quake hit south of General Santos, a city of about 720,000, where at least nine were killed. A series of powerful aftershocks rocked the area from about two hours after the first quake, according to the United States Geological Survey, with the largest measuring 6.5 magnitude. In General Santos, an AFP journalist watched on Monday afternoon as rescue workers dug through the rubble of a popular grocery store chain in a desperate bid to reach the bodies of two employees buried beneath. Rene Punzalan, disaster chief for hard-hit Sarangani province, told AFP 14 people had died in Glan municipality...

Ambassador of the Philippines, Dr.

ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday called for stronger economic engagement, including enhanced trade in food and pharmaceutical products and greater private-sector collaboration with Philippines.

Philippines warns of deadly storm surges as Typhoon Fung-wong nears super typhoon strength

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. Office of Civil Defence Information Officer Ezzra James Fernandez said there were no reported missing. “As to the initial assessment yesterday, the (infrastructure) damage is minimal,” Fernandez said, adding that road-clearing operations are ongoing and most roads are already passable. In Manay, a Mindanao municipality of 40,000 residents, 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 told AFP. “We have nowhere to sleep. There’s no e...

Two powerful offshore earthquakes struck off the southern Philippines on Friday, killing at least seven people, while towns near the epicentre suffered structural damage and authorities warned of strong aftershocks. The first quake of magnitude 7.4, in waters off the town of Manay in the province of Davao Oriental, triggered a tsunami alert for coasts within 300 kilometres of the epicentre, but the warnings for the Philippines and Indonesia were subsequently lifted. A second earthquake of magnitude 6.8 struck the same area seven hours later, triggering a new tsunami warning, with the country’s seismology agency Phivolcs warning of possible waves that could be more than a metre higher than normal tides. People living near coastal areas in the southern Philippines were “strongly advised to immediately evacuate” to higher ground, or move further inland, it said in an advisory. Phivolcs Director Teresito Bacolcol described the twin earthquakes as a “doublet”, two distinct earthquakes that occurred along a massive...

A local radio broadcaster was gunned down in the southern Philippines on Monday, a presidential task force said, adding to the growing list of media workers killed in a country ranked among the most dangerous in the world for journalists. Erwin Labitad Segovia, 63, a broadcaster for Radio WOW FM and host of a programme that focused on social issues and local governance, was shot dead by a still-unidentified gunman while on his way home shortly after completing his morning broadcast. According to the police, Segovia was followed by two suspects on a motorcycle. The Philippines ranked ninth on the 2024 Committee to Protect Journalists’ Global Impunity Index, which tracks countries where journalist murders remain unsolved. Authorities have launched an investigation and have activated a special investigation task group to handle the case, Jose Torres Jr, executive director of the presidential task force on media security, said in a statement. “The safety of journalists remains a priority for the government, and j...

An Indian climber and another from the Philippines became the first mountaineers to die on Mount Everest in the current March-May climbing season of the world’s highest peak, hiking officials said on Friday. Subrata Ghosh, 45, from India, died on Thursday below the Hillary Step while returning after reaching the 8,849-metre (29,032 feet) peak. “He refused to descend from below the Hillary Step,” said Bodhraj Bhandari of Nepal’s Snowy Horizon Treks and Expedition organising company. No other details were available. The Hillary Step is located in the ‘death zone’, an area between 8,000-metre (26,250 ft) high South Col and the summit where the level of natural oxygen is inadequate for survival. “Efforts are underway to bring his body down to the base camp. The cause of his death will be known only after post mortem,” Bhandari said. Philipp II Santiago, 45, from the Philippines, died late on Wednesday at the South Col while he was on his way up, said Himal Gautam, a tourism department official. Santiago was tired...