Philippines earthquake leaves at least 32 dead

Authorities in the Philippines said the death toll from the powerful earthquake that struck the south of the archipelago has climbed to at least thirty two, with more than a hundred people injured. The full scale of the destruction became clear only on the first day of the school year, as families and teachers spilled into the streets of battered towns, carrying the wounded and searching for the missing.

For a Serbian audience the story may feel remote, yet it strikes a part of the world that Belgrade is binding ever more tightly through trade and investment. The Philippines is one of Southeast Asia’s fastest growing economies and an increasingly important European Union partner across the Indo-Pacific, so any major natural disaster there reshuffles logistics, supply chains and the diplomatic arithmetic that eventually reaches European markets.

What exactly happened in the southern Philippines?

The epicentre lay thirty two kilometres west of Maasim in Sarangani province, at a depth of thirty three kilometres. Its magnitude of 7.8 placed it among the strongest tremors to hit Mindanao island in recent years. The grimmest scene unfolded in the mountain town of Glan, where landslides buried homes and killed thirteen residents, while seven more people died in nearby General Santos.

The Philippine seismology agency logged more than two hundred aftershocks, the strongest reaching a magnitude of 6.7. A tsunami warning followed the initial jolt, and waves of up to three quarters of a metre were measured in North Sulawesi in neighbouring Indonesia. The warnings were later lifted, but coastal residents had already been moved to higher ground.

• At least 32 dead across several towns
• More than 100 injured
• Epicentre 32 kilometres west of Maasim
• Depth 33 kilometres, magnitude 7.8
• More than 200 aftershocks

What makes the timing especially cruel is that the quake struck on the very first day of the school year, when roughly three point two million pupils and close to a hundred and twenty eight thousand teachers were due in classrooms. Officials ordered the immediate evacuation of schools and hospitals, leaving some buildings standing with cracked walls and damaged floors.

How is the government responding and what does it mean for the region?

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. promised a swift mobilisation of state services and dispatched rescue teams to the affected area. “The national government is moving and we will not leave Mindanao behind,” the president told residents of the south, a population long exposed to frequent seismic shocks along this stretch of the so-called Ring of Fire.

Mindanao sits at the junction of several tectonic plates, making it one of the most seismically active regions on the planet. Just eight months earlier, the area was hit by its strongest quake in twelve years. For the European Union, which views the Philippines as a key Indo-Pacific trading partner and is negotiating deeper economic ties, every such disaster raises questions about infrastructure resilience and emergency assistance. Southeast Asia watches these events through the lens of its own preparedness, since the same fault lines run through several neighbouring states.

As rescue crews continue to clear concrete slabs in Glan and General Santos, it is clear that the final toll will only be known in a few days. So, do you think wealthier nations and international institutions are doing enough to help societies that live on the world’s most dangerous seismic faultlines?