The Philippine Department of Environment announced on Sunday, June 14, that the recent violent earthquake that struck the south of the country caused a rare geological phenomenon that led to a rise of about two meters on the seafloor, causing large areas of coral reefs to be exposed and causing severe damage to the marine ecosystem.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the movement of the Cotabato Trench — located 50 kilometers off the coast of Mindanao and has frequent seismic activity and recorded thousands of small earthquakes in January — lifted parts of the coasts of Sarangani and Davao Occidental provinces, exposing areas of the seabed that were completely submerged under the surface of the water.

Unprecedented receding of sea water

The Ministry of Environment said that local residents in the affected areas first reported this geological phenomenon known as "coastal elevation" two days after the earthquake, as it led to the extension and change of the coastline by up to 200 meters in some areas as a result of the rapid receding of the water. The ministry confirmed that a specialized field team was sent to the area and found that large parts of the coastline, coral reefs and seagrass meadows were completely exposed above the surface of the water and exposed to air and sun due to the rise Land.

An official who spoke to AFP on Sunday said it was not yet possible to determine the full size and total area affected by the geographical shift. Images documented by the environment ministry's regional office showed large areas of exposed coral reefs scattered and scattered over which huge numbers of fish and other dead aquatic creatures were killed.

Residents initially reported these rapid changes on the seafloor, fearing that they would be poisoned by emissions and gases from the decomposition of dead marine organisms in the vicinity of their villages. The Ministry of Environment has officially warned that the coral reefs and seagrass areas that have been exposed have already begun to deteriorate and die a rapid death, as well as the organisms that live in them and depend on them as a natural environment such as reef fish, sea eels, oysters and shellfish, which portends serious and long-term environmental repercussions along the coastal zone.

Death toll rises to 61 in Philippines earthquake

The death toll from the earthquake that struck the southern Philippine coast on June 8 has risen to 61. ‎

The Philippine National Council for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management said in a statement on Sunday that at least 61 people have been killed in the quake so far, 1,403 others have been injured and 40 people are still missing.‎

An earlier toll indicated that 55 people were killed as a result of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake, which caused the collapse of buildings and landslides, and called for tsunami warnings.

Last October, two earthquakes of magnitude 7.4 and 6.7 struck eastern Mindanao, killing at least eight people, while a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in Cebu province left 76 people dead, according to government statistics.