At least 69 people have been killed in the Philippines after buildings and house walls collapsed in a 6.9 magnitude earthquake.
The earthquake, which struck the central province of Cebu shortly before 10 p.m. on Tuesday, left scores injured and sent residents out of their homes overnight as the intense tremors knocked out power, officials said.
The epicenter was about 19 kilometers northeast of Bogo, a coastal town of about 90,000 people.
Raffy Alejandro, a civil defense official, told reporters that the Bogo town hospital was “overwhelmed.”
The death toll of 69 was based on data from the Cebu provincial disaster office and was subject to validation, said Jane Abapo, information officer at the regional civil defense office.
At least 12 residents died when they were struck by falling ceilings and walls in their homes, some while they were sleeping, in Medellin, near Bogo, said Gemma Villamor, who heads the city's disaster mitigation office.
In the town of San Remigio, also close to Bogo, five people, including three coast guardsmen, a firefighter and a child, were killed separately by collapsing walls as they tried to flee a basketball game, the town's vice mayor, Alfie Reynes, told DZMM radio.
Cr Reynes appealed for food and water, saying San Remigio's water system had been damaged.
Authorities set up mobile kitchens for hundreds of evacuees and rushed to provide temporary electricity as night approached.
Earthquake monitoring agencies had estimated the depth of the quake at 10 km and recorded several aftershocks, the strongest being a magnitude 6.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr assured survivors of rapid assistance.
“We are assessing the damage, we are assessing the needs,” he told reporters.
Lucille Latonio of World Vision was about 2-3 hours from the epicenter but still felt the earthquake.
“I was having dinner with my husband at a convenience store,” she told ABC.
“The place started shaking and items in the store fell. People were panicking and screaming.”
Rescuers inspect a damaged building in Daanbantayan, Cebu province. (Reuters: Daanbantayan Municipality)
She added that many people were staying out of their homes for fear of aftershocks.
“I'm a little tense because there are still aftershocks,” Ms. Latonio said.
“Some members of my family, we have not been able to reach them. Hence this fear and this anxiety.”
Workers were trying to carry a backhoe to speed up search and rescue efforts at a group of huts in a mountain village hit by a landslide and rocks, said Rex Ygot, Bogo town disaster mitigation manager.
“It is difficult to move around the area because there are dangers,” said Glenn Ursal, another disaster mitigation official, adding that some survivors were taken to hospital.
In Bogo, the quake damaged homes, a fire station and concrete and asphalt roads, firefighter Rey Cañete said.
“We were in our barracks to retreat the day the ground started shaking and we rushed outside but fell to the ground because of the intense shaking,” Mr. Cañete said, adding that he and three other firefighters suffered cuts and bruises.
Patients wait outside the Cebu Provincial Hospital in Bogo City. (AP Photo)
Terrified residents gather outdoors
Hundreds of terrified residents gathered in the dark in a grassy field near the fire station and refused to return home hours after the earthquake struck Bogo.
Cebu Gov. Pamela Baricuatro said the extent of damage and injuries in Bogo and outlying towns in the province's north would not be known until dawn.
“It could be worse than we think,” she said in a video message posted on Facebook.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology briefly issued a tsunami warning and advised people to stay away from the coasts of Cebu and neighboring provinces of Leyte and Biliran due to waves reaching 1 meter.
Teresito Bacolcol, director of the institute, said the tsunami warning was later lifted without any unusual waves being monitored.
Cebu and other provinces were still recovering from a storm that hit the central region on Friday, killing at least 27 people, knocking out power to entire towns and forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.
The Philippines, one of the countries most prone to natural disasters, is often hit by earthquakes 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 hit by around twenty typhoons and storms each year.
Wires/ABC
