The request came three days after a magnitude 7.8 offshore earthquake struck near the southern province of Sarangani, killing at least 47 people, injuring 688 and leaving 31 others missing, according to disaster management officials.

More than 45,000 residents remained displaced, with roughly half staying in emergency shelters, after the quake damaged more than 12,600 homes across farming towns and urban centers in the affected region. Provincial authorities said many residents were reluctant to return home because of continuing aftershocks.

The hardest-hit province was Sarangani, where 20 fatalities were reported, most linked to a landslide that buried homes in the coastal municipality of Glan, according to the Office of Civil Defense.

Glan Mayor Victor James Yap said 10 of the town’s 31 villages remained inaccessible, largely due to landslides that blocked roads and cut off transport links. The municipality, home to more than 100,000 residents, continued to face severe logistical challenges in distributing aid.

“We need food and water but it’s difficult to transport them to some of our villages which remain isolated,” Yap told DZMM radio, urging the government to deploy air force helicopters to reach communities cut off from ground access.

Yap said a major road leading into the town had reopened, allowing fuel deliveries to resume as early as Thursday. However, electricity had yet to be restored and cellular communication services remained unreliable across parts of the municipality.

Most earthquake-related deaths were caused by collapsing structures, falling debris and landslides in Sarangani, General Santos City and the neighboring provinces of South Cotabato and Davao Occidental.
The disaster also triggered coastal hazards. Two swimmers drowned and another remained missing after being swept out to sea near General Santos shortly after the quake.

Authorities recorded waves reaching up to 1.4 meters above normal tide levels in parts of the southern Philippines, while smaller sea surges were detected in Indonesia, Palau and southern Japan.

The earthquake ranks among the strongest to strike the Philippines in the last five decades. It follows the magnitude 8.1 earthquake and tsunami of August 1976, one of the country’s deadliest natural disasters, which killed about 8,000 people.

The Philippines lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a seismically active zone where frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur due to the movement of major tectonic plates.

Rescue operations continued in General Santos City, one of the areas hardest hit by Monday’s earthquake, after a strong aftershock forced emergency personnel to evacuate a partially collapsed three-story grocery building where search teams were looking for a missing employee.

Approximately 30 firefighters and coast guard personnel scrambled to safety when fresh tremors shook the damaged structure, sending concrete debris crashing from the building. Rescue operations were temporarily halted while authorities reassessed safety conditions at the site.

The earthquake, among the strongest to strike the Philippines in decades, caused widespread destruction across southern Mindanao, the country’s second-most populous region. Officials said more than 25,000 people remained displaced, many housed in 45 government-run evacuation centers as persistent aftershocks heightened fears of additional building collapses.

Teresito Bacolcol, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said the earthquake had generated more than 2,100 aftershocks, including several reaching magnitudes of up to 6.4. Such tremors remain capable of causing further structural damage and casualties, he said.

Authorities reported that more than 3,100 homes were damaged along with 29 roads, 11 bridges and over 100 government buildings. The international airport in General Santos sustained damage and remains closed to commercial operations, although government and military flights carrying relief supplies and disaster-response personnel continue to operate.

Education officials said roughly 6,000 public school buildings in affected provinces would require safety inspections before classes could resume. The earthquake struck on the first day of the new academic term following a two-month summer break, leaving many students among those injured.

Most fatalities were attributed to falling debris from collapsed structures and landslides in General Santos and the neighboring provinces of Sarangani, South Cotabato and Davao Occidental. Authorities also reported one death linked to unusually strong sea currents generated after the quake.

The Philippine Coast Guard said seven swimmers near General Santos were swept away shortly after the earthquake. Three were rescued, one returned to shore independently, one drowned and two remain missing.

Seismologists said the earthquake originated in the Cotabato Trench, an undersea fault system off southern Mindanao. The trench was also responsible for the devastating 8.1-magnitude earthquake and tsunami in 1976 that killed about 8,000 people.

Located along the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Philippines is among the world’s most disaster-prone countries and regularly experiences earthquakes and volcanic activity due to intense tectonic movement beneath the region.

Officials halted rescue operations on Monday evening following assessments by emergency crews using life-detection equipment at the site of a building under construction that collapsed at dawn on Sunday in Angeles City, north of Manila. Recovery teams on Tuesday focused on retrieving remains from the debris field.

At least four people have been confirmed dead, including a Malaysian national whose body was recovered from a neighboring hotel struck by the collapse. Sixteen others, most of them construction workers, remain unaccounted for, according to authorities.

The tragedy has left families waiting anxiously for news. Lea Casilao said she feared her husband, Joselito, was among those trapped after he spent Saturday night at the workers’ barracks near the construction site. The couple had exchanged messages until the evening before the collapse, but his customary morning response never arrived.

Casilao said she went directly to the site after being unable to contact him and found a scene of twisted steel, shattered concrete and collapsed scaffolding. Speaking from a temporary shelter near the disaster zone, she said her hopes of finding her husband alive had disappeared after rescue operations were called off.
Emergency officials acknowledged the anguish facing families as the mission transitioned from rescue to recovery. Maria Leah Sajili, an information officer with the regional Bureau of Fire Protection, said rescuers had exhausted all available measures to locate survivors before concluding that no signs of life remained beneath the wreckage.

Among those confirmed dead was the father of 19-year-old Evelyn Alicaway. She said she recognized him in footage circulating on social media showing rescuers attempting to recover victims from the debris. Alicaway spoke at her father’s funeral, describing the emotional toll of identifying him through the images.

The collapse has also intensified scrutiny of the project’s compliance with construction regulations. Authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the accident and whether the development exceeded the conditions of its approved permit.
Investigators are examining reports that the building had authorization for nine stories, while a swimming pool was being constructed on a tenth floor at the time of the collapse.

Records show that the Philippine labor agency suspended work at the site in September 2025 over safety violations. The stop-work order was lifted a month later after the company was deemed to have complied with regulatory requirements.

Relatives of the victims have called on the project’s owners to cooperate with authorities and provide assistance to affected families as investigations continue.

The explosion occurred late on Friday at the Liushenyu coal mine in Qinyuan County, where 247 workers were on duty underground at the time of the accident, according to state news agency Xinhua. Rescue operations were continuing on Saturday as authorities worked to locate remaining workers and assess conditions at the site.

The mine is operated by Shanxi Tongzhou Group Liushenyu Coal Industry, a company established in 2010 and controlled by Shanxi Tongzhou Coal Coking Group, according to corporate records.Local emergency management authorities said the cause of the explosion remained under investigation.

Shanxi, China’s leading coal-producing region, has long been at the center of the country’s mining industry and has experienced numerous major industrial accidents over the decades.President Xi Jinping ordered authorities to spare no effort in treating the injured and conducting search-and-rescue operations, according to Xinhua.

He also called for a comprehensive investigation into the disaster and accountability for those found responsible under the law.Premier Li Qiang urged officials to ensure the timely release of information and enforce rigorous accountability measures as investigations proceed.

Xinhua reported that executives linked to the company operating the mine had been detained following the accident.Provincial authorities dispatched seven rescue and medical teams comprising 755 personnel to the disaster site, according to Qinyuan’s emergency management bureau.

China has significantly reduced fatalities in its coal mining sector over the past two decades through stricter safety regulations, modernization efforts and tougher enforcement standards.

Nevertheless, gas explosions and other underground hazards continue to pose risks in some mining operations.

The previous deadliest coal mining disaster in China occurred in 2009, when a coal and gas outburst at a mine in Heilongjiang province killed 108 people and injured 133.

Fedorishchev, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said four people, including one child, had been rescued from the debris. He did not provide details on casualties or the extent of damage.

The incident occurred in Syzran, a city on the Volga River, amid ongoing hostilities between Russia and Ukraine that have increasingly involved cross-border drone strikes.

Authorities have not released further information on the scale of the attack or whether additional people remain trapped. Rescue teams were continuing efforts at the site, according to the governor’s statement.

There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials.

The survivors, who said their vessel had initially carried 105 people, were found clinging to the wreckage of an overturned boat before being taken aboard nearby ships, according to Mediterranea Saving Humans and Sea-Watch. The bodies and survivors were later transferred to an Italian coast guard patrol boat and brought to the island of Lampedusa.

Italy’s interior ministry declined to comment on the incident, while the Italian Coast Guard did not immediately respond to requests for confirmation. The rescue took place during Easter, a major holiday in Italy.

Footage released by Sea-Watch showed migrants struggling in open waters, with several individuals holding onto the partially submerged orange hull as rescuers approached.

The central Mediterranean route, one of the world’s deadliest migration corridors, has been further complicated this year by adverse weather conditions. Rough seas have reduced the number of departures from North Africa but increased the risks for those attempting the journey.

The International Organization for Migration estimates that at least 683 people have died along the central Mediterranean route so far this year, marking one of the highest death tolls recorded since 2014.

The fire department said a man in his 50s was found trapped under a car in Nea Makri, northeast of Athens, amid severe weather conditions. Emergency services reported nearly 500 calls across the greater Athens area, including more than 30 rescue operations.

Authorities issued emergency alerts and closed schools in Athens and other regions as the storm intensified. Ferry services, a key transport link for Greece’s islands, remained suspended in many areas due to rough seas.

The national weather service warned of continued severe conditions, forecasting intense rainfall, thunderstorms and possible hail across much of the country.

Localized flooding has already been reported in several areas.On Wednesday, flights to Crete were disrupted after an African dust storm reduced visibility, forcing some aircraft to reroute.

Officials said the storm system, which has affected large parts of the country for three days, is expected to ease by Friday.