Philippines earthquake death toll climbs to 45

The death toll from a powerful earthquake in the southern Philippines has risen to 45, while 630 people were injured and 17 remained missing, a civil defence official said on Wednesday.

Most of the additional fatalities were reported in Davao Occidental province, where six people were killed in a landslide and two died after being struck by falling debris, said Bernardo Rafaeli to Alejandro IV, deputy administrator of the Office of Civil Defence. Eighteen deaths were recorded in Sarangani province, the epicentre of Monday's magnitude 7.8 earthquake, while 15 were reported in neighbouring South Cotaba to province, including General Santos City.One death was reported in Davao del Sur province. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has recorded more than 2,200 aftershocks since the quake struck on the first day of the academic school year, affecting more than 3.2million students. More than 3,000 houses were damaged or destroyed, while roads and bridges also sustained damage, Alejandro said. General Santos City's international airport was damaged but reopened on Tuesday for relief and government flights. Damage to infrastructure has been estimated at 562.8 million pesos($9.16 million). Government and private emergency teams continued search, rescue and recovery operations in affected areas, Alejandro said.