Hundreds of aftershocks jolt Philippines as officials say death toll could rise

The Philippines' Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, PHIVOLCS, said more than 380 aftershocks had been recorded following the magnitude 7.8 quake off southern Mindanao. Civil Defence Director-General Ariel Nepomuceno said the death toll had reached 96 and could rise as data continued to come in from remote villages. President Bongbong Marcos declared a state of emergency in the affected area.

The quake sent tsunami waves of up to 1.2 metres to Japan's Okinawa Prefecture after a Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre alert; the Japan Meteorological Agency coordinated coastal evacuations. Limited waves were also recorded in Taiwan and Indonesia during their warning windows. A school building collapse in the Davao region of Mindanao raised the toll there to 14.

The International Red Cross and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) dispatched relief teams to Manila. A 5-billion-peso emergency allocation was released from the national budget. The Philippine Stock Exchange PSEi fell 1.4%, while global insurance stocks edged lower at the open. Marcos said joint aid offers from the United States and China were being weighed.