POLOMOLOK, Philippines – A Rosenberg family vacationing in the Philippines found themselves in the middle of one of the country’s deadliest earthquakes in recent years when a powerful 7.8 magnitude quake struck Monday morning.
Shane Ayangco, who immigrated to the United States from the Philippines in 2004 and now lives in Rosenberg, said he, his wife and their three young children were asleep in their family’s home in Polomolok, a town near General Santos City in the southern Philippines, when the earthquake struck around 7:30 a.m. Monday local time.
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“We were pretty much in bed,” Ayangco said. “All of a sudden it started shaking.”
Ayangco said he had experienced earthquakes growing up in the Philippines, but nothing like this.
“The earthquakes were just more like a side-by-side kind of swaying,” he said. “This was the first time that it was this intense to the point that you’re bouncing up the bed.”
As the shaking intensified, Ayangco said his family rushed outside. In the panic, he said they nearly left behind one of their children.
“Unfortunately, we almost forgot my middle child, my 3-year-old, because she was covered with a blanket,” Ayangco said. “I had to grab her and then we went outside.”
He estimated the shaking lasted about three to four minutes.
The earthquake struck about 12 miles off the coast of Sarangani province and triggered tsunami warnings in several countries, according to NBC News, citing Reuters.
Tremors were felt across Mindanao and as far away as the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. At least 37 people have been killed, more than 400 injured and four remain missing as search-and-rescue efforts continue, NBC News reported, citing Reuters.
The hardest-hit area was General Santos City, home to more than 700,000 people, where officials declared a state of calamity after multiple buildings collapsed and power infrastructure was heavily damaged, according to NBC News.
Search crews continued looking Tuesday for people believed trapped inside a collapsed commercial building. NBC News reported that rescuers had pulled two people out alive while recovering one body from the wreckage, citing Reuters.
Ayangco said his family escaped without injuries and found no visible structural damage to the home where they are staying.
“We looked for cracks or anything, just in case,” he said. “Everything’s good, so we’re blessed that we didn’t get the worst of it.”
Still, he said the destruction in nearby communities has been extensive.
“There was a lot of structural damage, especially for big buildings,” Ayangco said. “There were bridges that were actually split in two.”
The family had planned to spend the night at a beach near the earthquake’s epicenter before changing those plans. Ayangco said he later saw social media posts about people becoming stranded after damaged bridges cut off access to the area.
“We’ve always been thinking that it could have been us,” he said.
Schools across the region also sustained damage. NBC News reported that schools remained closed Tuesday while officials inspected buildings for safety. Thousands of school buildings reportedly suffered damage ranging from minor to severe.
Ayangco said many students were outside for first-day-of-school ceremonies when the earthquake struck, potentially reducing casualties.
The earthquake comes about eight months after a magnitude 6.9 quake near the central Philippine island of Cebu killed 79 people, according to NBC News.
The Philippines experiences hundreds of earthquakes each year because it sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a seismically active zone that stretches around much of the Pacific Ocean.
For Ayangco and his family, the danger has not ended.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology recorded dozens of significant aftershocks following the quake, including one measuring magnitude 6.7, according to NBC News.
Ayangco said residents remain on edge as aftershocks continue.
“This was a very traumatic experience,” he said.
He said some residents have begun sleeping outside or in tents, fearing additional strong tremors could further weaken damaged buildings.
“We haven’t slept until like 3 a.m. last night just because of anticipating some aftershocks,” Ayangco said.
The family had planned to fly to Manila later this week before returning to Houston next week.
Ayangco said local aviation authorities have restricted some airport operations to emergency and humanitarian flights following damage caused by the earthquake and he expects travel plans could change.
“Our flight hasn’t been canceled officially yet, but we’re anticipating that it might be,” he said. “We’re kind of taking it stride by stride,” Ayangco said.