Drills prevented higher death toll in Philippine quake

2 days ago

Philippine officials said on Friday that years of disaster-preparedness drills helped prevent a larger casualty toll when one of the strongest earthquakes in 50 years struck the south and left 55 people dead with 31 others missing. The 7.8-magnitude offshore quake, which struck on Monday off Sarangani province, injured about 1,120 people and displaced more than 45,000 people, about half them