Rescue operations continued in General Santos City, one of the areas hardest hit by Monday’s earthquake, after a strong aftershock forced emergency personnel to evacuate a partially collapsed three-story grocery building where search teams were looking for a missing employee.

Approximately 30 firefighters and coast guard personnel scrambled to safety when fresh tremors shook the damaged structure, sending concrete debris crashing from the building. Rescue operations were temporarily halted while authorities reassessed safety conditions at the site.

The earthquake, among the strongest to strike the Philippines in decades, caused widespread destruction across southern Mindanao, the country’s second-most populous region. Officials said more than 25,000 people remained displaced, many housed in 45 government-run evacuation centers as persistent aftershocks heightened fears of additional building collapses.

Teresito Bacolcol, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said the earthquake had generated more than 2,100 aftershocks, including several reaching magnitudes of up to 6.4. Such tremors remain capable of causing further structural damage and casualties, he said.

Authorities reported that more than 3,100 homes were damaged along with 29 roads, 11 bridges and over 100 government buildings. The international airport in General Santos sustained damage and remains closed to commercial operations, although government and military flights carrying relief supplies and disaster-response personnel continue to operate.

Education officials said roughly 6,000 public school buildings in affected provinces would require safety inspections before classes could resume. The earthquake struck on the first day of the new academic term following a two-month summer break, leaving many students among those injured.

Most fatalities were attributed to falling debris from collapsed structures and landslides in General Santos and the neighboring provinces of Sarangani, South Cotabato and Davao Occidental. Authorities also reported one death linked to unusually strong sea currents generated after the quake.

The Philippine Coast Guard said seven swimmers near General Santos were swept away shortly after the earthquake. Three were rescued, one returned to shore independently, one drowned and two remain missing.

Seismologists said the earthquake originated in the Cotabato Trench, an undersea fault system off southern Mindanao. The trench was also responsible for the devastating 8.1-magnitude earthquake and tsunami in 1976 that killed about 8,000 people.

Located along the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Philippines is among the world’s most disaster-prone countries and regularly experiences earthquakes and volcanic activity due to intense tectonic movement beneath the region.

The reopening of Imam Khomeini International Airport marks the latest step toward restoring civilian air travel after authorities halted all incoming flights on Sunday in response to escalating regional security concerns.

“The deputy head of airport operation of Imam Khomeini Airport Company announced the resumption of flights to Imam Khomeini Airport and the flights of pilgrims,” Iran’s Mehr news agency reported.

The airport suspension followed Iranian missile strikes on Israel on Sunday. Israel subsequently carried out retaliatory strikes, prompting heightened security measures and disruptions to regional air traffic.

The reopening allows the return of Hajj pilgrims traveling from Saudi Arabia, an important seasonal movement of passengers as Muslims conclude the annual pilgrimage.

The closure was the latest operational interruption at Imam Khomeini International Airport, one of two airports serving the Iranian capital. The facility had only resumed activity in April after remaining shut for several weeks during the Middle East conflict.

The reopening underscores efforts by Iranian authorities to restore normal transportation links while regional tensions continue to affect aviation operations across the Middle East.

No further details were immediately provided regarding flight schedules or additional operational restrictions at the airport.