A heavily damaged building in southern Philippines following a major earthquake on June 8. — XINHUA/VNA Photo

MANILA — The Philippines' authorities on Wednesday updated casualty and damage figures following the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that struck the country’s southern region on June 8, with the death toll rising to 46.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake just off the coast of Mindanao on June 8 brought down buildings, triggered landslides and set off tsunami warnings across a swathe of the southern island.

Civil defence official Rafaelito Alejandro said most of the newly confirmed fatalities were from Davao Occidental province, with many victims killed by landslides or building collapses.

Meanwhile, 17 people went missing and 487 others sustained injuries.

According to the Philippines’ National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), the earthquake damaged around 238 infrastructure facilities, including hospitals, schools and bridges, as well as nearly 3,000 homes.

The disaster has affected more than 33,000 households, equivalent to about 150,000 people, with over 41,000 residents forced to evacuate.

Aftershocks continue to shake much of Mindanao and several areas in central Philippines, with more than 1,700 tremors recorded since the main earthquake.

Despite the ongoing seismic activity, rescue workers remain deployed across the hardest-hit areas, particularly in Sarangani and South Cotabato provinces, where search and recovery efforts are being intensified.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology described the quake as the strongest to hit the country in approximately 50 years.

The Philippines lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the world's most seismically active regions. In 1976, a magnitude-8.1 earthquake along the Cotabato Trench triggered a devastating tsunami that claimed around 8,000 lives. — VNA/VNS