Philippine town seeks immediate airlift of food to ease hunger in
quake-hit villages
[June 11, 2026]
By JOEAL CALUPITAN and BASILIO SEPE
GENERAL SANTOS, Philippines (AP) — The mayor of a southern Philippine
town that was devastated by a powerful earthquake pleaded Thursday for
helicopters to transport food to stave off hunger in several
landslide-isolated villages.
The 7.8 magnitude offshore quake, one of the strongest to hit the
Philippine archipelago in a half century, struck Monday off the southern
province of Sarangani and has left at least 47 people dead and injured
688 with 31 still missing.
More than 45,000 people remained displaced, about half in emergency
shelters, after the quake damaged more than 12,600 houses in farming
towns and cities. Many were still too traumatized to return home due to
aftershocks, provincial officials said.
Sarangani reported 20 dead from the quake, the highest toll from the
affected provinces, mostly due to a landslide that buried houses in the
coastal town of Glan, according to the government's Office of Civil
Defense, which deals with major disasters.
Glan Mayor Victor James Yap said power has not been restored to his
province and 10 of 31 villages in his town of more than 100,000 people
remained inaccessible mostly due to landslides. He asked the government
to immediately deploy air force helicopters to deliver food and other
aid to the stricken areas.
“We need food and water but it’s difficult to transport them to some of
our villages which remain isolated,” Yap told DZMM radio network.
“Choppers are needed to transport food because people there are already
very hungry.”
A key access road to the town has been reopened and will allow the
delivery of fuel as early as Thursday, but the town remained without
power and cellphone services were still spotty, according to Yap.
The Office of Civil Defense said more than 26 million pesos ($426,000)
worth of food packs, cash and other aid have been provided so far and
180 government and military planes, helicopters, ships and trucks have
been deployed to respond to the disaster.
About 3,400 government and military personnel were involved in search
efforts for the missing, debris-clearing in roads, damage assessment and
other disaster-mitigation work, it said.
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Residents walk past debris from a damaged building in General
Santos, southern Philippines, Thursday, June 11, 2026, following
Monday's powerful earthquake. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe)
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday visited the hard-hit
city of General Santos city, where he inspected damaged hospitals
and schools and discussed recovery efforts. He ordered the release
of 100 million pesos ($1.6 million) for the repair of the partly
collapsed city hall and 50,000 pesos ($820) for the families of each
of the victims who died in the quake.
Most of the deaths from the quake were caused by falling debris from
collapsed buildings and landslides in Sarangani, the coastal city of
General Santos, and the outlying provinces of South Cotabato and
Davao Occidental.
Two swimmers drowned and one remained missing off General Santos
after being swept out to sea shortly after the quake hit. Waves of
up to 1.4 meters (4.6 feet) above tide level were measured in the
country’s south and smaller waves washed ashore in Indonesia and
Palau and as far away as southern Japan.
The earthquake was one of the strongest to hit the country since an
8.1 magnitude quake and tsunami on Aug. 17, 1976, that killed about
8,000 people.
The Philippines is often hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions
due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic
faults around the ocean.
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Associated Press journalist Jim Gomez contributed to this report
from Manila, Philippines.
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