14 Injured In Philippines Aftershock, Weeks After Deadly Quake —Rescuers

A moderately strong earthquake struck the central Philippine island of Cebu Monday, injuring at least 14 people and damaging infrastructure already weakened by a deadly tremor two weeks earlier, officials said.

The magnitude 5.7 aftershock, recorded by the United States Geological Survey, struck just after 1:00 am on Monday (1700 GMT Sunday).

Its epicentre was located near Bogo city, the same area devastated by a 6.9 magnitude quake on September 30 that killed 75 people and damaged or destroyed 72,000 houses, according to the provincial government.

The latest tremor tore up a road in the town of San Remigio and caused a wall to collapse at a government hospital in Bogo, which had already sustained damage in the earlier quake, local officials said.

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Eight people were injured in Bogo, while six were hurt in San Remigio and the municipality of Daanbantayan, according to official data.

The Bogo district hospital “temporarily evacuated patients” after a parapet fell at one of its buildings, and also suffered a power cut, a provincial government statement said.

On Friday, twin earthquakes measuring 7.4 and 6.7 struck the eastern part of the main southern island of Mindanao, killing eight people and injuring hundreds.

Earthquakes are a near-daily occurrence in the Philippines, which is situated on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.