FIVE people have died following a mighty 6.9-magnitude earthquake in central Philippines, injuring villagers and leaving homes in ruins.
All five deaths were recorded in the city of San Remigio in the north of the busy island of Cebu, local police said.
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Four bodies were pulled from a sports centre in San Remigio, while a child was crushed by debris in another area of the town, Manila television network ABS-CBN reported from the scene.
The quake struck at sea off the Cebu city of Bogo at 9:59pm (1359 GMT), damaging buildings and roads and triggering a rescue effort across the north of the island.
Rescue official Wilson Ramos said: “There could be people trapped beneath collapsed buildings,” he said, citing rescue efforts underway in the town of San Remigio and Bogo, a city of 90,000 residents.
He said he did not know how many people were missing.
Recovery efforts were being delayed by the dark as well as aftershocks, he added.
The US Geological Service has recorded four quakes of magnitude 5.0 or higher in the area following the first tremor.
The strong offshore earthquake struck around 10pm local time.
The offshore tremor hit about 17km (10 miles) northeast of Bogo, a coastal city of 90,000 people.
Residents described terrifying scenes as concrete walls crumbled, power was knocked out, and huge cracks split concrete roads.
Even a local fire station was damaged by the violent shaking, said firefighter Rey Caete, as panicked families fled into the streets for safety.
The town of Medellin in Cebu confirmed one death and “many” injuries.
Classes and work have been suspended until buildings are declared safe.
Footage on social media showed a fire breaking out at a shopping mall, a McDonald’s reduced to rubble, and beauty pageant contestants fleeing the stage in panic.
Firefighter Rey Caete 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.”
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Caete added that he and three other firemen were cut and bruised.
“A concrete wall in their fire station collapsed,” he said.
They treated at least three residents, including an elderly man with head injuries, and rushed him to hospital.
Hundreds of terrified families refused to return home, huddling in a grassy field through the night.
Cebu Governor Pam Balicuro Urged Calm in Social Media Video Video.
She said the presidential office had promised immediate aid: “Know that the provincial government is doing its best, help is coming.”
The PHIVOLCS, but they were cancelled by the PHIVOLC.
More than half a million people across the Visayan Islands felt the strong tremor, according to USGS estimates.
Poorly built structures are at risk of collapse, it warned.
The Philippines sits on the Ring of Fire, a 25,000-mile fault line where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are common.
In 2022, a 7.0-magnitude quake in northern Luzon killed five and injured over 100. A year earlier, another tremor killed 11.
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