Rescuers race to reach trapped after powerful quake in southern Philippines

Rescuers searched the rubble of a collapsed building in the southern Philippine ​city of General Santos, the worst hit by a powerful earthquake that has killed at least 37 people and injured hundreds, to reach ‌two people still believed to be trapped inside.

The 7.8-magnitude ​quake, which triggered tsunami warnings across several countries, struck early on Monday morning about 20 km (12.4 miles) off the coast of Sarangani ​province, with tremors felt strongly across Mindanao and as far as the city of Manado, 420 km (261 miles) away on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

Officials said they hoped the death toll would not rise further as search and rescue operations continued, with more than 400 people injured.

Scenes of ​devastation were visible in parts of General Santos, which is home to more than 700,000 people and now under a state of ​calamity, with several buildings collapsed and debris strewn across streets beneath a tangle of toppled power lines and utility posts.

Philippine disaster officials scoured damaged ‌buildings to ⁠assess damage and worked to restore power and water for the thousands of residents affected by the disaster. The quake came eight months after the country suffered its deadliest tremor in 12 years, opens new tab, when a shallow 6.9 magnitude quake hit off the central island of Cebu, killing 79 people.

The Philippines experiences hundreds of quakes each year and sits on tectonically complex parts of the Pacific "Ring of Fire", ​a seismically active belt stretching from ​South America to the Russian ⁠Far East.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) recorded 23 strong aftershocks, with the strongest measuring magnitude 6.7, forcing some ⁠residents to ​spend the night in evacuation centres and tents.