Tremor damages buildings in General Santos City

KORONADAL CITY — Several buildings in General Santos City were damaged by a powerful tremor at past 4 p.m. Friday.

Officials of the Police Regional Office-12 and sources from the General Santos City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council had confirmed, in initial statements released an hour after the city and nearby provinces were jolted by a strong earthquake, that a number of people were rushed to hospitals, injured by debris that fell from tall buildings and ceilings of shopping malls.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology in Region 12 reported that the earthquake was strongest in the adjacent Sarangani province, recorded at Magnitude 7.2 in the Richter Scale.

The tremor sent people inside malls and tall buildings and students in schools running for their lives.

Radio reports said personnel of hospitals in General Santos City also evacuated patients to safe areas as the ground shook.

The tremor was also felt in the Bangsamoro provinces of Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Lanao del Sur and in the adjoining Sultan Kudarat, Cotabato and South Cotabato provinces and in this city, the administrative seat of Region 12.