Classes suspended, emergency teams deployed after North Cotabato quake

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Officials immediately suspended classes in schools in seven North Cotabato towns and in Kidapawan City after a strong earthquake jolted the province on Tuesday morning.

Kidapawan City is the capital of North Cotabato, seat of the provincial government, and is extending relief services to earthquake-stricken constituents.

Local officials in the towns of Tulunan and Makilala, worst hit by the magnitude 6.6 tremor at past 9 a.m. Tuesday, and in Matalam, Carmen, President Roxas, Antipas and M'lang have mobilized emergency responders to check on the situation of displaced villagers.

The earthquake on Tuesday morning was preceded by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake on October 16 that was followed by more than 800 aftershocks.

The earthquake was also felt in the cities of Davao, Koronadal, General Santos and Tacurong, and in Central Mindanao’s adjoining Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, South Cotabato and North Cotabato provinces and in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Personnel of the Kidapawan City Doctors’ Hospital hurriedly moved patients out to ensure their safety.

A building in the North Cotabato provincial capitol in Kidapawan City, where trade fairs and big gatherings are held, was destroyed.

Responders evacuated pupils and teachers from the campus of Daig Elementary School in Tulunan where classrooms were damaged.

Several buildings along stretches of the Cotabato-Davao Highway in Makilala were damaged and vehicles figured in accidents.

Cotabato City Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi also suspended the classes in all schools in the 37 barangays under her jurisdiction.