Landslide leaves three dead in Philippines

World
Europe

A landslide caused by rains from a tropical depression buried three people alive in the Philippines' Legazpi city in Albay province, south of Manila, government officials said on Saturday.

Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal said a three-year-old boy, a 20-year-old girl and a 26-year-old man were killed when a landslide hit their house in San Francisco village on Saturday morning.

The three reportedly lived in a house with 10 others when the landslide occurred. The other 10 people survived, Rosal said.

Rosal attributed the landslide to heavy downpours since Friday.

Many parts of Albay province are flooded, Janet Ramos, a resident of Daraga town in Albay told Xinhua.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geographical and Astronomical Services Administration earlier warned that heavy rains brought by tropical depression may pour over the northern and central Philippines.

The tropical depression has weakened into a low-pressure area after making landfall in Eastern Samar in the central Philippines on Saturday.

Also on Saturday, a 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck off the Philippine island of Mindanao, triggering a tsunami warning, with small waves expected to hit southern parts of the country and neighboring Indonesia.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center warned "hazardous tsunami waves from this earthquake are possible" along the coasts of Indonesia and the Philippines.

However, waves were forecast to be less than 30 cm (12 inches) above tide level, it said, while Philippine monitors warned that "minor sea level disturbances" were to be expected.

The Philippine government's seismology institute initially advised people to "stay away from the beach and not to go to the coast fronting the Philippine Sea," for about two hours after the quake,but it later canceled the tsunami advisory, saying that wave heights had returned to normal.

Source(s): AFP ,Xinhua News Agency