Hundreds of Aftershocks Shake Earthquake-hit Northern Philippines

Five people were killed and more than 150 injured in the Philippines when a powerful quake struck Abra province Handout Office of Abra Representative Ching Bernos/AFP
Five people were killed and more than 150 injured in the Philippines when a powerful quake struck Abra province Handout Office of Abra Representative Ching Bernos/AFP
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Hundreds of Aftershocks Shake Earthquake-hit Northern Philippines

Five people were killed and more than 150 injured in the Philippines when a powerful quake struck Abra province Handout Office of Abra Representative Ching Bernos/AFP
Five people were killed and more than 150 injured in the Philippines when a powerful quake struck Abra province Handout Office of Abra Representative Ching Bernos/AFP

Anxious residents slept outside after hundreds of aftershocks rattled the earthquake-hit northern Philippines, locals said Thursday, as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr flew to the region to inspect the damage.

Five people were killed and more than 150 injured when a 7.0-magnitude quake struck the lightly populated province of Abra on Wednesday morning, authorities said.

The powerful quake rippled across the mountainous region, toppling buildings, triggering landslides and shaking high-rise towers hundreds of kilometers away in the capital Manila, AFP said.

"Aftershocks happen almost every 20 minutes, 15 minutes since yesterday," said Reggi Tolentino, a restaurant owner in Abra's provincial capital Bangued.

"Many slept outside last night, almost every family."

Hundreds of buildings were damaged or destroyed, roads were blocked by landslides and power was knocked out in affected provinces.

But in Abra, which felt the full force of the quake, overall damage had been "very minimal", police chief Colonel Maly Cula told AFP.

"We don't have a lot of people in evacuation sites although many people are staying in the streets because of the aftershocks," Cula said.

"Abra is back to normal."

More than 800 aftershocks have been recorded since the quake hit, including 24 that were strong enough to feel, the local seismological agency said.

In Vigan City, a UNESCO World Heritage site and tourist destination in Ilocos Sur province, centuries-old structures built during the Spanish colonial period were damaged.

Governor Jeremias Singson told Teleradyo that 460 buildings in the province had been affected, including the Bantay Bell Tower, which partially crumbled.

"Our tourism industry and small business owners were really affected," Singson said.

The Philippines is regularly rocked by quakes due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

Wednesday's quake was one of the strongest recorded in the Philippines in recent years and was felt across swathes of Luzon island, the most populous in the archipelago.

In October 2013, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Bohol Island in the central Philippines, killing more than 200 people and triggering landslides.

Old churches in the birthplace of Catholicism in the Philippines were badly damaged. Nearly 400,000 were displaced and tens of thousands of houses were damaged.

The powerful quake altered the island's landscape and a "ground rupture" pushed up a stretch of earth by about three meters, creating a wall of rock above the epicentre.

In 1990, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake in the northern Philippines created a ground rupture stretching over a hundred kilometers.

Fatalities were estimated to reach over 1,200, with major damage to buildings in Manila.



Russia Becomes First Country to Formally Recognize Taliban’s Latest Rule in Afghanistan

In this photo released by Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service on Oct. 4, 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, right, and Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan's Taliban movement Amir Khan Muttaqi pose for a photo prior to their talks in Moscow, Russia. (Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
In this photo released by Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service on Oct. 4, 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, right, and Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan's Taliban movement Amir Khan Muttaqi pose for a photo prior to their talks in Moscow, Russia. (Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
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Russia Becomes First Country to Formally Recognize Taliban’s Latest Rule in Afghanistan

In this photo released by Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service on Oct. 4, 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, right, and Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan's Taliban movement Amir Khan Muttaqi pose for a photo prior to their talks in Moscow, Russia. (Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
In this photo released by Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service on Oct. 4, 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, right, and Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan's Taliban movement Amir Khan Muttaqi pose for a photo prior to their talks in Moscow, Russia. (Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service via AP, File)

Russia on Thursday became the first country to formally recognize the Taliban’s government in Afghanistan since it seized power in 2021, after Moscow removed the group from its list of outlawed organizations.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that it had received credentials from Afghanistan’s newly appointed Ambassador Gul Hassan Hassan. The official recognition of the Afghan government will foster “productive bilateral cooperation,” the ministry said in a statement.

Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry called it a historic step, and quoted Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi as welcoming the decision as "a good example for other countries.”

The Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021 following the withdrawal of US and NATO forces. Since then, they have sought international recognition while also enforcing their strict interpretation of religious law.

While no country had formally recognized the Taliban administration until now, the group had engaged in high-level talks with many nations and established some diplomatic ties with countries including China and the United Arab Emirates.

Still, the Taliban government has been relatively isolated on the world stage, largely over its restrictions on women.

Russian officials have recently been emphasizing the need to engage with the Taliban to help stabilize Afghanistan, and lifted a ban on the Taliban in April.

Russia’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Dmitry Zhirnov, said in remarks broadcast by state Channel One television that the decision to officially recognize the Taliban government was made by President Vladimir Putin on advice from Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Zhirnov said the decision proves Russia’s “sincere striving for the development of full-fledged relations with Afghanistan.”