DEATH TOLL MOUNTS IN PHILIPPINES QUAKE HORROR: At Least 69 Killed, Hundreds Injured as Buildings Collapse and Walls Come Crashing Down
- Devastating magnitude-6.9 earthquake strikes central Cebu province, leaving trail of destruction and death
- Terrified residents scramble to safety as intense shaking cuts off power and sparks widespread panic
- Death toll expected to rise as officials assess full extent of devastation in daylight hours
In a heartbreaking development, at least 69 people have been killed in the Philippines after a powerful magnitude-6.9 earthquake struck the central Cebu province, causing buildings and walls of houses to collapse, injuring many others and sending residents running for their lives.
The quake, which hit just before 10pm on Tuesday local time, caught people off guard, with many trapped under the rubble of their own homes. “I was having dinner with my husband at a convenience store,” said Lucille Latonio, a World Vision worker who was about 2-3 hours from the epicentre. “The place started to shake and items from the shop fell down… people were panicking, shouting.”
Raffy Alejandro, a civil defence official, described the scene at the hospital in Bogo city as “overwhelmed”, with dozens of injured people pouring in for treatment. In Medellin, near Bogo, 12 residents died when they were hit by falling ceilings and walls of their houses, some while they were sleeping, said Gemma Villamor, who heads the town’s disaster-mitigation office.
In San Remigio town, also near Bogo, five people, including three coastguard personnel, a firefighter, and a child, were killed separately by collapsing walls while trying to flee to safety from a basketball game. The town’s vice-mayor, Alfie Reynes, appealed for food and water, saying San Remigio’s water system had been damaged.
Rescuers are racing against time to search for survivors, with hundreds of terrified residents gathering in the open, refusing to return home hours after the earthquake struck. Cebu Governor Pamela Baricuatro warned that the extent of the damage and injuries in Bogo and outlying towns in the northern section of the province would not be known until daybreak. “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 coastlines in Cebu and in the nearby provinces of Leyte and Biliran due to possible waves of up to 1 metre. The tsunami warning was later lifted with no unusual waves being monitored.
The Philippines, one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, 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 lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms each year.