Six people have been confirmed dead after a strong 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck the central Philippines.
All six deaths were recorded in the municipality of San Remigio in the north of the populous major island of Cebu, local authorities said.
The town’s vice mayor, Alfie Reyne told local radio that among the six dead were three coast guard personnel, a firefighter and a child.
Four bodies were pulled from a sports centre in San Remigio, while a child was crushed by debris in another area of the town, according to Philippine television network ABS-CBN.
The earthquake struck at sea off the Cebu city of Bogo, a coastal city of about 90,000 people, late on Tuesday, triggering a rescue effort across the north of the island.
The quake sent residents scrambling out of their homes as numerous villagers were injured while roads, homes and a fire station were damaged.
Cebu provincial governor Pamela Baricuatro said an unspecified number of houses and a hospital were damaged in Bogo.
She added that emergency medical teams were being deployed to treat residents, but that the extent of the damage and injuries would not be known until daytime, she said.
‘We’re sending already a trauma team there, doctors and nurses are on the way,’ Ms Baricuatro told the DZMM radio network.
‘We need medicine, food, medical teams.’
The streets of Cebu following a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that jolted parts of the island
The quake damaged concrete walls of houses and a fire station and knocked out power in the city
Six people have been confirmed dead by police following the earthquake on Cebu island
Provincial rescue official Wilson Ramos said there ‘could be people trapped beneath collapsed buildings’ but that recovery efforts were being hampered by the dark as well as aftershocks.
Firefighter Rey Cañete said that their fire station collapsed in the quake, and first aid had to be given to at least three residents, who were injured by falling debris.
‘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,’ Cañete said.
Strong shaking from the earthquake could bring ‘considerable damage in poorly built or badly designed structures,’ said the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
There was no tsunami threat after the earthquake, which had a shallow epicentre of around 11km, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
Dramatic footage showed a church tower collapsing on Bantayan Island as onlookers wailed in fear.
Parts of St. Peter and Paul Church, including a large cross and lighting decorations, crumbled to the floor as the ground rattled.
Martham Pacilan, a 25-year-old resident of the resort town of Bantayan, said: ‘I heard a loud booming noise from the direction of the church then I saw rocks falling from the structure. Luckily no one got hurt’.
‘I was in shock and in panic at the same time but my body couldn’t move, I was just there waiting for the shake to stop.’
The Archdiocesan Shrine of Santa Rosa de Lima in the town of Daanbantayan, Cebu, collapsed into a pile of rubble following the quake
Damages to a bridge following a magnitude 6.9 earthquake on the island of Cebu
Residents gather on a street outside their homes after earthquake tremors at Mandaue in Cebu, central Philippines
Another church, the Archdiocesan Shrine of Santa Rosa de Lima in the town of Daanbantayan, Cebu, collapsed into a pile of rubble following the quake.
The Cebu provincial government reported that a commercial building and a school in Bantayan had collapsed, while a fast food restaurant in Bogo was heavily damaged.
The quake caused power lines to trip, leading to outages across Cebu and nearby central islands, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines said in an advisory, adding it was still assessing the extent of the damage.
Elsewhere, a beauty pageant in Cebu City was halted following the quake, while former Big Brother star Sam Pepper was forced to evacuate a restaurant as he was filming a live stream.
In a live video message on her official Facebook account, Ms Baricuatro urged residents to ‘stay calm and move to open areas; keep away from walls or structures that may collapse and stay alert for aftershocks.’
She said the provincial government was assessing the situation and reaching out to municipal officials.
Agnes Merza, a 65-year-old carer based in Bantayan, said: ‘It felt as though we would all fall down. It’s the first time I have experienced it.
‘The neighbours all ran out of their homes. My two teenage assistants hid under a table because that’s what they were taught in the boy scouts.’
Dramatic footage showed a church tower collapsing on Bantayan Island as onlookers wail in fear
Parts of St. Peter and Paul Church, including a large cross and lighting decorations, crumbled to the floor as the ground rattled
Authorities warned that aftershocks are expected in the coming days, urging residents to remain vigilant.
The local seismology office warned of a possible ‘minor sea-level disturbance’ and urged residents of the central islands of Leyte, Cebu and Biliran to ‘stay away from the beach and not to go to the coast’.
However, Teresito Bacolcol, director of the institute, later said that the tsunami warning was lifted with no unusual waves being monitored.
The Philippines lies on the ‘Ring of Fire’, a belt of volcanoes circling the Pacific Ocean that is prone to seismic activity.
Earthquakes occur frequently but most are too weak to be felt by humans.
But strong and destructive ones come at random, with no technology available to predict when and where they might strike.
Central Philippine provinces were still recovering from a storm that hit on Friday, leaving at least 27 people dead mostly due to drownings and falling trees.
