The 7.8-magnitude tremor just off the coast of Mindanao on Monday brought down buildings and triggered landslides on the southern island while setting off tsunami warnings across the region.
A government tally released on Friday morning put the death toll from the quake at 55, but an afternoon update, citing "validation and verification of reports," reduced that figure to 46. The same update increased the number of missing by seven to 38.
This photo shows a damaged road after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in General Santos City, the Philippines, on June 9, 2026. Photo by AFP
In hard-hit Sarangani Province, provincial disaster chief Rene Punzalan told AFP that many of the blocked roads had been cleared, but helicopters were still being used to take food and water to cut-off residents who remained without power.
"Aftershocks are still slowing us down, plus it also rained last night, so we have to stop the operation for a while," he said of operations in which backhoes were being used to remove large boulders.
