Official government tallies showed Monday that the death toll from a powerful earthquake in the southern Philippines has risen to three, even as frequent aftershocks continued to send residents fleeing to the safety of the streets.

Two people died in Surigao del Sur, Arana said, one from falling debris and the other from a wall collapsing on top of him.

A pregnant woman was killed in Tagum City in Davao del Norte province, the national disaster agency said, without providing details.

At least eight people were injured since the magnitude-7.4 quake hit Saturday off the coast of Mindanao, in an area that has seen a series of aftershocks of magnitudes exceeding 6.0 through Sunday.

A magnitude-6.9 quake hit the area early Monday at a depth of 30 kilometers, about 72 kilometers northeast of Hinatuan municipality in Surigao del Sur province, the US Geological Survey said.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said Saturday's quake was generated by the movement of the earth's crust along the Philippine Trench.

The long, narrow depression on the eastern seaboard of the Philippines forms the boundary of one tectonic plate pushing against another.

At least 1,726 aftershocks have been logged since Saturday, Phivolcs said, adding that the aftershocks ranged from 1.4 to 6.6 in magnitude, 351 of which were plotted while 17 were felt tremors.

Phivolcs Director Teresito Bacolcol said aftershocks are expected in the next few weeks.

Terrified

"Up to now we're still terrified because there are many aftershocks," Alex Arana, head of the province's disaster agency, told a radio station. As of Sunday night, more than 30,000 families were staying in evacuation centers in Surigao del Sur, Arana said.

Josephine Ungab, 54, and her three children spent Saturday night in an evacuation center in Hinatuan, about 21 kilometers from the epicenter of the initial quake. They returned home the next day but were back at the shelter on Monday after another strong tremor.

"Every time there is an earthquake we feel restless," she said.  "It is as if our house will be destroyed by the quake and waves."

Hinatuan police Staff Sgt. Joseph Lambo said a quake on Sunday evening — which USGS recorded at magnitude-6.6 — sent people rushing out of their homes again. "They were panicking due to the memory of the previous night's quake," Lambo said.

Saturday's quake briefly triggered a tsunami warning across the Pacific region and sent residents along the east coast of Mindanao fleeing buildings, evacuating a hospital and seeking higher ground.

"The frequent aftershocks are produced by the continuous adjustment of the rocks that moved and caused the earthquake on Saturday," the institute said, warning that aftershocks could continue for several weeks.

The recent earthquakes came about two weeks after a 6.7-magnitude tremor hit Mindanao, killing at least nine people, shaking buildings and causing part of a shopping mall ceiling to collapse.

WITH AFP