No home, no water, no rice: Mindanao earthquake survivors appeal for help

Days after a powerful earthquake that struck the southern Philippines, residents left homeless by the disaster were still struggling without food, water or shelter on Wednesday (June 10), as damaged roads continued to block relief teams from reaching the hardest-hit communities.

Landslides triggered by the 7.8-magnitude quake collapsed homes and buried roads across Sarangani province, leaving many survivors to fend for themselves amid the rubble. Drone footage showed excavators clearing debris from blocked roads as residents picked through the wreckage of destroyed homes to salvage their belongings.

Sajeron Gampong, 57, said his house had completely collapsed and he could no longer enter it. "Our problem now is how we can renovate our house and rebuild it, because we really don't have any budget," he said. "What we are most afraid of is our financial situation. We have no water and no rice."

The quake, which triggered tsunami warnings across several countries, struck early on Monday (June 8) morning about 20 km (12.4 miles) off the coast of Sarangani province, with tremors felt strongly across Mindanao and as far as the city of Manado, 420 km (261 miles) away on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

The national disaster agency raised the death toll to 45 on Wednesday, while the number of people missing jumped from four to 17.

Gampong, sawing salvaged wood outside the ruins of his home, said he had not given up hope. "We are sad because we no longer have a home," he said. "We hope that the government or kind people who can help us will do so — we hope they remember us, their fellow citizens, because we no longer have a place to live."

Production: Adrian Portugal, Jacinta Goh/Reuters