A woman washes clothes along a damaged pathway in General Santos, southern Philippines, Thursday, June 11, 2026, following Monday's powerful earthquake. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe)
Workers inspect a damaged mall in General Santos, southern Philippines, Thursday, June 11, 2026, following Monday's powerful earthquake. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe)
People on motorcycles pass by a collapsed structure after an earthquake in General Santos, Philippines on Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo)
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A woman washes clothes along a damaged pathway in General Santos, southern Philippines, Thursday, June 11, 2026, following Monday's powerful earthquake. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe)
Basilio Sepe
Workers inspect a damaged mall in General Santos, southern Philippines, Thursday, June 11, 2026, following Monday's powerful earthquake. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe)
Basilio Sepe
People walk past a collapsed building following an earthquake in Sarangani province, Philippines Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe)
Basilio Sepe
Residents take shelter in a field at a municipal hall in Sarangani province, Philippines, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe)
MANILA, Philippines (AP) 鈥 Philippine officials said 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 46 people dead with 38 others missing.
The 7.8 magnitude offshore quake, which struck Monday off Sarangani province, injured at least 688 people and displaced more than 45,000 people, about half them still in emergency shelters, after the quake damaged more than 12,600 houses across farming towns and cities.
The numbers of dead and missing were considerably lowered after multiple verifications, the Office of Civil Defense said in a statement.
Many of the displaced were still too traumatized to return home because of strong aftershocks, officials said.
Days after the earthquake hit, more videos of the chaotic moments have been posted on social media showing horrified crowds witnessing the collapse of small buildings, and flag-raising ceremonies turning chaotic when the ground started to shake on the first day of school after a long summer break.
Students are seen on videos screaming in panic, but staying seated or standing still outside school buildings, with some covering their heads with their hands as teachers admonished them to calm down.
One video, which has gone viral on Facebook with millions of views, showed dozens of grade-schoolers screaming and breaking into tears as they sat on a tree-ringed school ground, which visibly swayed them from side to side. A tin roof shed nearby later collapsed with a loud thud, prompting many to dash away, but were asked by teachers to return and stay seated.
The grade school in the coastal town of Malita in Davao Occidental province reported no injuries from the quake.
鈥淭his incident serves as a reminder of the importance of earthquake preparedness and the value of regular disaster response drills,鈥 the Mahayahay elementary school said in a statement.
Teresito Bacolcol, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said years of disaster-preparedness drills helped people anticipate and brace for extreme events like Monday鈥檚 quake, one of the strongest to hit the archipelago in a half-century.
He said that it was also fortunate that the quake hit at 7:37 a.m., a few minutes before work and classes were to start indoors.
鈥淚t鈥檚 good that our efforts to educate people on what to do when earthquakes hit somehow paid off,鈥 Bacolcol told The Associated Press.
He expressed concern, however, over the collapse of some buildings that he said should have withstood the powerful quake, if construction standards based on the country鈥檚 building code were followed.
Ednar Dayanghirang, director of the Office of Civil Defense in a quake-hit region of about 5 million people, said that regular disaster-preparedness drills helped reduce casualties in many ways, including by preventing deadly stampedes.
鈥淲e required all school principals to take one-day courses on incident management, then they appointed disaster-response teams among teachers to deal with earthquakes, tsunamis,鈥 Dayanghirang said. 鈥淭hey listened and they learned.鈥
The Philippines, one of the world鈥檚 most disaster-prone countries, is often hit by and because of its location on the Pacific 鈥淩ing of Fire,鈥 an arc of seismic faults around the ocean.
