Australia ‘ready to provide humanitarian assistance’ after Philippines smashed by earthquake
Australia has offered humanitarian aid to the Philippines after the restive Mindanao region was shaken by a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake.
The earthquake that occurred in the southern Philippines on Monday killed at least 35 people, destroyed a building housing the popular Filipino fast food restaurant Jollibee, dragged schoolchildren to the Soccsksargen region and triggered tsunami zones across the island country.
At least a dozen people were reported still missing on Wednesday as emergency services began examining the debris.
“Our thoughts are with the Australian-Philippine community, the Filipino people and everyone affected by the earthquake near Mindanao,” Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said in a statement.
“Australia stands ready to provide humanitarian assistance if requested,” he said.
“We stand with our close friends in this time of great difficulty.”
Senator Wong is in Berlin for bilateral talks with European leaders, including the future of the war in Ukraine and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marco Jnr, son of the late dictator of the same name, said in a social media post that he had ordered all relevant government agencies to intervene in the crisis and suspend all classes in Mindanao “until further notice.”
“The national government is taking action, and we will not leave Mindanao behind,” he said.
“I am in constant communication with our regional offices and local senior managers in the field.”
Mindanao, located at the southern tip of the Philippines on the country’s border with Malaysia, is no stranger to crisis.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, or MILF, engaged in a decades-long conflict with the central government in an attempt to separate Mindanao from the rest of the Philippines.
The Abu Sayyaf Group, a jihadist criminal group, also operates in the region; In 2017, Philippine armed forces fought to liberate the city of Marawi from groups affiliated with the Islamic State Group.
It is claimed that Sayad and Naveed Akram, the alleged gunmen at Bondi Beach, went to Davao city, the largest city in Mindanao, in 2025.
