Powerful Earthquake Shakes Southern Philippines

A 7.4-magnitude earthquake Friday morning off the southern Philippines killed at least two people, damaged a hospital and schools, knocked out power and prompted evacuations of coastal areas nearby due to a tsunami warning, which was later lifted.

• President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., facing his latest natural disaster after a previous earthquake last week and back-to-back storms, said the potential damage was being assessed and rescue teams and relief operations were being prepared and would be deployed when it was safe to do so, the AP reports.
• The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said it was expecting damage and aftershocks from the earthquake, which was centered at sea about 43 kilometers east of Manay town in Davao Oriental province and was caused by movement in the Philippine Trench at a depth of 14 miles.

• Children evacuated schools in Davao city, which has about 5.4 million people and is the biggest city near the epicenter, about 155 miles west of Davao Oriental province.
• "I was driving my car when it suddenly swayed and I saw powerlines swaying wildly. People darted out of houses and buildings as the ground shook and electricity came off," Jun Saavedra, a disaster-mitigation official of Gov. Generoso town in Davao Oriental, tells the AP. "We've had earthquakes in the past, but this was the strongest."
• "We understand that Filipinos are now experiencing disaster fatigue from typhoons, volcanic minor eruptions and earthquakes. We asked them not to feel fearful," Dr. Teresito Bacolol of the Philippines Volcanic Agency said Friday, per the BBC. "We have to prepare ourselves. We have to accept our reality that the Philippines is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire—that every now and then we will be jolted by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis. Instead of panicking, we have to prepare."