Life gradually returning to normal in Philippines after quake

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Life gradually returning to normal in Philippines after quake

2026-06-10 12:48 Last Updated At：15:38

Life is gradually returning to normal in General Santos City of the Philippines as relief efforts continue after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southern Philippines on Monday morning.

At least 37 people were killed, and some 500 people were injured in the disaster, authorities said on Tuesday.

At a shopping mall in General Santos City, the entire exterior wall of a parking structure collapsed during the earthquake, crashing onto several tricycles parked in the area and causing severe damage to them.

The mall is one of the larger ones in the area. Walls throughout the building have collapsed to varying degrees, with the internal structure of many sections now exposed.

The mall is currently closed, and given the extent of the damage, it is estimated that it will take a considerable amount of time to resume operations.

Although many facilities remain closed, the bustling atmosphere of the city is gradually returning.

At a public market in General Santos City, vegetable stalls have begun to be set up.

Although electric power has not yet been fully restored in the area, supplies remain relatively abundant, and local residents are coming to the market to shop.

It has been just over a day since the powerful earthquake took place, life in this area is gradually returning to normal.

"The calamity was so terrible, but for us as a vendor, we need to keep our store open because it is essential for other persons. They need also the fruits for their everyday living, but then again the aftershocks is [are] still there. But we also need to be calm because when we panic there was [would be] many devastating [things that] happen. So [what] we all need to do is to be calm," said Alyza Lejarso, a vendor at the market.

At a secondhand clothing store in the city, electric power has been restored. The lights are on, and electric fans throughout the market have started operating.

Traffic lights in the city are also fully operational again.

As evening falls, roadside restaurants are lighting up one after another.

The earthquake with a magnitude of 5.4 jolted Mindanao, Philippines at 1649 GMT on Tuesday, the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences said.

The epicenter, with a depth of 73.1 km, was initially determined to be at 5.48 degrees north latitude and 125.45 degrees east longitude.

Chinese vice premier urges solid work to advance anti-desertification shelterbelt forest program

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Tuesday called for solid efforts to ensure timely progress in the advancement of three major landmark campaigns for the nation's anti-desertification Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program.

He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks while attending a meeting held in the Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Bayingolin of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China, aimed at promoting work progress.

The three landmark campaigns for the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program are respectively the hard campaign for fighting desertification in areas around the Great Bend of the Yellow River, the campaign to annihilate the Horqin and Hunshandake Sandy Lands, and the campaign to block the edge of the Hexi Corridor-Taklimakan Desert.

Speaking at the meeting, the vice premier called for sound efforts to advance the three landmark campaigns to ensure that over 70 percent of work tasks for the sixth phase of the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program will be completed by 2027, and all work tasks for this phase will be fulfilled by 2030.

While in Bayingolin on Monday, He also inspected an apocynum planting demonstration area and a desertification control research base.

China is among the countries with the most severe desertification globally. Its desertified areas are mainly located in northwest, north and northeast China, which together are dubbed the "three-north."

The country in 1978 initiated its landmark ecological project, the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program, which has become the world's largest afforestation endeavor. Scheduled to be completed by 2050, the program has the aim of rehabilitating and greening desert-prone lands and desertified areas in the "three-north."