A powerful 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Cebu City in the Philippines late Tuesday, killing at least 69 people, injuring many and damaging houses and buildings.
The epicentre of the shallow quake, which was set off by movement in a local fault at a depth of 5 kilometres, was about 19 kilometres northeast of Bogo, a coastal city of about 90,000 people in Cebu province where at least 14 residents died, disaster-mitigation officer Rex Ygot told a news agency.
The death toll in Bogo was expected to rise as workers dug for survivors against time using a backhoe in a cluster of shanties in a mountain village hit by a landslide and boulders, he said.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology briefly issued a tsunami warning and advised people to stay away from the coastlines in Cebu and in the nearby provinces of Leyte and Biliran due to possible waves of up to 1 meter (3 feet).
Terrified residents camped in open fields as power outages and milder quakes continued to hit the area while water systems also got damaged.
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At least 12 residents, mostly belonging to small families, died when they were hit by falling ceilings and walls of their houses, some while sleeping, in Medellin town near Bogo, Gemma Villamor, who heads the town's disaster-mitigation office, told the agency.
In San Remigio town, also near Bogo, five people, consisting of three coast guard personnel, a firefighter and a child, were killed separately by collapsing walls while trying to flee to safety from a basketball game that was disrupted by the quake, the town's vice mayor, Alfie Reynes, told the a radio network.
Aside from houses in Bogo, the quake damaged a fire station and concrete and asphalt roads, firefighter Rey Cañete said.
“We were in our barracks to retire for the day when the ground started to shake and we rushed out but stumbled to the ground because of the intense shaking,” Cañete told reporters, adding that he and three other firemen sustained cuts and bruises.
Meanwhile, several business establishments visibly sustained damages and the asphalt and concrete roads where they passed had deep cracks, An old Catholic church in Daanbantayan town near Bogo was also damaged.
Cebu Gov. Pamela Baricuatro said the extent of the damage and injuries in Bogo and outlying towns in the northern section of the province would not be known until daytime. “It could be worse than we think,” he said in a video message posted on Facebook.
Cebu and other provinces were still recovering from a storm that battered the central region on Friday, leaving at least 27 people dead mostly due to drownings and falling trees, knocking out power in entire cities and towns and forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.
The Philippines is one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, often hit by earthquakes, torrential rain and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic faults around the ocean. The archipelago is also lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms each year.
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