Emergency workers were dispatched on Saturday to Philippine provinces jolted by a magnitude-7.6 earthquake, killing one and forcing hundreds to flee in fear of a tsunami.
Two bridges in Eastern Samar were partially damaged, Civil Defence chief Benito Ramos said.
A fire razed one house in the southern province of Agusan del Norte after the quake knocked down a gas lamp, but no casualties were reported, he added.
The quake’s epicentre was located 112 kilometres east of Guiuan town in Eastern Samar province, 660 kilometres south-east of Manila, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
In the southern city of Cagayan de Oro, a 44-year-old woman died and her 5-year-old grandson was injured when a landslide buried their house. Five houses were also swept away by a flash flood.
Mr. Ramos said hundreds of residents, who fled coastal areas in six provinces on the Philippines’ eastern coast remained in evacuation centres due to fears of aftershocks.
“Some are still nervous to go back to their homes,” he said.
The institute said it had recorded at least 139 aftershocks, with the strongest measuring 6.8 in magnitude.
