General Santos City + Sarangani. 4 months after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake.

On June 8, 2026, at 07:37:40am, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck offshore southern Mindanao in the Philippines. The United States Geological Survey located the epicenter approximately 25 km southwest of Kablalan at a depth of about 57 km, while the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology located it 32 km south of Maasim, Sarangani, at a depth of 33 km. PHIVOLCS attributed the earthquake to subduction associated with the Cotabato Trench. The earthquake was among the most destructive in the country in five decades. The city of General Santos, and the provinces of Sarangani and South Cotabato in Soccsksargen and Davao Occidental in Davao, were the worst affected. We visited General Santos early this year before the earthquake, and now we come back to check how the city (and the nearby province of Sarangani) is picking up after the devastation.