The strong earthquake of magnitude 6.9 in the central region left at least 26 dead, more than 100 injured and many damaged buildings, local authorities said on Wednesday (1st, local date) amid rescue work. The low-depth tremor was recorded at 9:59 pm on Tuesday (10:59 in Brasilia) in front of the north coast of Cebu, near Bogo, a city of 90,000, according to the United States Geological Service (USGS).
The National Council for Reduction and Management of Disaster Risk reported on Wednesday morning 26 dead and 147 injured, as well as 22 buildings dropped or damaged by the earthquake, without offering further details. Nine adults and four children died in Bogo, including three whose houses were buried by landslides. Police confirmed five other deaths in the neighboring municipality of San Remigio, and another in Tabulan.
Four bodies were removed from a sports center in San Remigio, including three members of the racker who played a local basketball tournament when the roof collapsed. A boy died crushed by the rubble in another region of San Remigio, they added. On its official Facebook page, the government of Cebu province asked that volunteer doctors help rescue work after the earthquake.
Rescue work was hampered at night because of darkness and 379 replicas reported by the Filipino Institute of Vulcanology and Seismology, Ramos added. Many town roads also suffered damage and there were interruptions in the power supply in Cebu and nearby central islands, but electricity was restored in several important areas shortly after midnight. “We felt the tremor at the station, it was very strong. We saw our closet moving from side to side. We were a little disgusted, but we are all fine,” said Joey Leeguid, a firefighter from San Fernando.
The government of Cebu province reported that a commercial building and a school in Bantayan collapsed through the tremor, while a fast food restaurant in Bogo suffered serious damage. In a live broadcast on Facebook, the provincial governor, Pamela Baricuatro, urged residents to “keep calm and go to open areas, move away from walls or structures that may collapse and remain alert in the face of possible replicas.” Earthquakes are frequent in the Philippines, which is in the so -called Pacific Circle of fire, an area of intense seismic activity that extends from Japan to Southeast Asia and crosses the ocean basin, reaching the west coast of the Americas.
*With information from AFP
