Rescuers searched the rubble of a collapsed building in the southern Philippine city of General Santos on Tuesday after a powerful earthquake killed at least 37 people and injured hundreds across the country.
Regional fire officer Edgar Tanawan, who is leading the operation, told Reuters that two people had been pulled alive from the commercial building, which housed a grocery store and other businesses, while a third was found dead.
Scanners have so far detected no signs of life from the remaining two people believed to be trapped, he added.
"It's difficult to accept, as a mother, that my son is still trapped there," said Dioslinda Deluvio, distraught as she waited outside the building for news of her son. "I don't know... it's very hard to accept."
A magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck early on Monday about 20 km off the coast of Sarangani province, triggering tsunami warnings across several countries. Tremors were felt across Mindanao and as far away as Manado on Indonesia's Sulawesi island, about 420 km away.
Officials said they hoped the death toll would not rise further as search and rescue operations continued, with more than 400 people injured and four people still missing.
Philippine disaster officials were assessing damage to buildings and infrastructure while working to restore power and water supplies for thousands of residents affected by the disaster.
The earthquake came eight months after the country suffered its deadliest tremor in 12 years, when a shallow magnitude-6.9 quake struck off the central island of Cebu, killing 79 people.
The Philippines experiences hundreds of earthquakes each year and sits on a tectonically complex section of the Pacific "Ring of Fire", a seismically active belt stretching from South America to the Russian Far East.
Schools, which had just reopened on Monday after a long break, remained closed as authorities inspected buildings. Thousands of schools sustained damage ranging from minor to severe, Rafaelito Alejandro, head of the Office of Civil Defense, told DZBB radio.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) recorded 23 strong aftershocks, the largest measuring magnitude 6.7. The aftershocks forced some residents to spend the night in evacuation centres and tents.
In General Santos and Sarangani, patients were treated in makeshift tents as officials worked to ensure hospitals were safe, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa told DZBB. He added that restoring power was critical because outages were limiting access to sensitive and specialised treatments required by patients.
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