Magnitude 6.9 earthquake hits off central Philippines coast

Earthquake sends radical moving into the streets, damages buildings aft hitting disconnected Cebu island.

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake has struck disconnected the seashore of the cardinal Philippines, sending radical moving into the streets and knocking powerfulness retired successful immoderate areas.

The quake struck astatine oversea connected Tuesday disconnected the bluish extremity of Cebu land and adjacent Bogo, a metropolis of much than 90,000 people, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said, adding that it expected some harm and aftershocks.

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The institute urged residents successful the provinces of Cebu, Leyte and Biliran to enactment distant from the seashore owed to a “minor oversea level disturbance” and told them to “be connected alert for antithetic waves”.

However, determination was nary tsunami menace aft the tremor, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

“We are inactive assessing the damage,” Pamela Baricuatro, politician of Cebu, said successful a video posted connected societal media.

“But it could beryllium worse than we think,” said Baricuatro, adding that she has been successful interaction with the president’s bureau and is asking for aid.

People stitchery connected a thoroughfare aft earthquake tremors successful the cardinal Philippines [AFP]

Cebu firefighter Joey Leeguid told the AFP quality bureau from the municipality of San Fernando that helium felt the quake astatine his occurrence station. “We saw our locker moving from near to right. We felt somewhat dizzy for a while, but we are each good now,” Leeguid said.

Martham Pacilan, a 25-year-old nonmigratory of the edifice municipality of Bantayan adjacent the epicentre, said helium was astatine the municipality quadrate adjacent a religion erstwhile the quake struck.

“I heard a large booming sound from the absorption of the church. Then I saw rocks falling from the structure. Luckily, nary 1 got hurt,” helium told AFP.

“I was successful daze and successful panic astatine the aforesaid time, but my assemblage couldn’t move. I was conscionable determination waiting for the shaking to stop.”

No casualties were instantly reported, but immoderate buildings sustained damage.

The Archdiocesan Shrine of Santa Rosa de Lima, a religion successful Daanbantayan, a municipality successful Cebu province, said the operation had partially collapsed. Power besides went retired successful Daanbantayan.

The Philippines experiences near-daily earthquakes, and a powerful magnitude 7 quake successful July 2022 killed astatine slightest 5 radical and injured 60 others.

In December 2023, different large earthquake shook the confederate Philippines, sidesplitting astatine slightest 1 idiosyncratic and forcing thousands to evacuate.