Quake death toll climbs to 8
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 11 October) – At least eight people were reported to have died after the two earthquakes that struck off Davao Oriental on Friday, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Center said in an advisory on Sunday morning, although it said the data is still subject to verification.
A magnitude 7.4 earthquake hit off Manay, Davao Oriental at 9:43 am on October 10, 2025. Another quake with a magnitude of 6.9 occurred at 7:12 p.m., also off Manay.
Four of the deaths occurred in Davao de Oro, three of them miners in Sitio Gumayan, KingKing, Pantukan town.
Three deaths were reported in Davao Oriental, two in Mati City and the other in the municipality of Tarragona. One of the victims was a 54-year-old woman who died after a wall collapsed on her, while another one died from cardiac arrest caused by panic.
The lone fatality in Davao City was an 80-year-old male in Barangay Bangoy, Agdao who was pinned down by a concrete wall that collapsed on him.
The quake has left 11 people injured, 10 of them in Davao Region and one in Caraga Region.
Food assistance assured
At the press briefing held on late Saturday afternoon at the city’s old airport, Rex Gatchalian, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary said that as of 2 p.m. on the same day, there were 2, 526 families or around 11,000 individuals housed in 18 evacuation centers.
Ten of these evacuation centers are in Davao Oriental, six in Davao de Oro, and the rest are in the Caraga Region.
Gatchalian assured the affected families of food assistance, saying the DSWD has stored 100,000 stockpiles at different warehouses in Davao Region. He said they have already distributed 1,728 family packs and 606 ready-to-eat food items to the evacuees.
He said the stockpiles can be augmented if needed, and there are 100,000 additional stockpiles in Caraga that can be used.
“Pagdating sa pagkain, utos ng pagulo, walang pamilyang magugutom, sisiguraduhin nya po yun (In terms of food, the President has ordered that no family should go hungry. He will make sure of that),” he said.
The official added they have already coordinated with the Philippine Red Cross to build temporary shelters for the displaced families.
Vince Dizon, Secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said they are already conducting clearing operations in areas hit by landslides.
He said all national highways in the region are now passable and clearing measures are still on for city and municipal roads. He added that bridges, despite small cracks, are also passable.
While the assessment of damaged classrooms is still ongoing, Education Secretary Sonny Angara said classes previously conducted in these classrooms will remain asynchronous with modules distributed to students to continue learning.
”Pero kung kaya na man ng schools na mag asynchronous, why not, hindi bah? But I think, the capacity for schools is very low now.” he said.
Angara said they will fund the major repair of damaged classrooms but the DPWH will be the one to do the repair work. He said minor repairs will be passed to DepEd regional offices.
As to the status of hospitals, Bernardo Alejandro IV, Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Assistant Secretary said on a Facebook live that the district hospital in Manay, which is nearest to the epicenter, is non-operational.
Hospitals in Mati City and its neighboring areas are overwhelmed with patients being accommodated outside these facilities.
This prompted the OCD to put up temporary medical tents while the repairs on the damaged hospitals are being done.
”We need to expedite the assessment and repair of damaged key hospitals in Manay and Mati. So kailangan na kailangan na po ito gawin (This really needs to be done),” Alejandro said. (Daniel Jamito/MindaNews)
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