Some residents in Davao Del Sur camped outside their homes as aftershocks continued to jolt the province following a powerful quake that left at least 5 dead across Mindanao, the Office of Civil Defense said Friday.

The magnitude 6.3 tremor struck around 80 kilometers southwest of central Davao on Wednesday night, opening cracks in buildings, knocking power out and sending panicked residents into the streets.

"Ayaw nilang bumalik sa kanilang mga kabahayan kasi natatakot sila sa aftershocks," OCD-Davao Region operations officer Marvin Samson said of residents in Magsaysay, Davao Del Sur.

(Some residents do not want to return to their homes because they're afraid of aftershocks.)

• After strong earthquake, aftershocks shake southern Mindanao

A coal power plant in Davao Del Sur, he said, did not sustain damage. The province is home to several multi-national companies and is considered the region's trade center.

In neighboring Soccskargen region, the quake left 68 injured and damaged about 25 schools, said OCD public information officer Jorie Mae Balmediano.

Across Mindanao, 3 people were killed in landslides while another was crushed by the collapsed wall of a house. A fifth fatality succumbed to heart attack, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said.

Local authorities had earlier told AFP three children were among the dead.

The state seismology office has recorded more than 300 weaker aftershocks in the area since the big quake, but authorities said they do not expect the toll to rise significantly.

The disaster council's spokesman Mark Timbal told local television it had not received any reports of missing people from any of the quake-hit areas.

The Philippines is part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin. With a report from Agence France-Presse

DZMM, October 18, 2019