This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . The next check for changes will be

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/30/central-philippines-hit-by-powerful-earthquake

The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 3 Version 4
Philippines earthquake: dozens dead as rescuers search through wreckage Philippines earthquake death toll rises to at least 69 as Cebu hospitals struggle
(about 8 hours later)
Rescuers search for casualties in coastal city of Bogo, where power was knocked out and buildings and roads damaged More than 700 aftershocks recorded – mostly minor – while rescuers search for casualties in coastal city of Bogo
The death toll from a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck central Philippines has risen to 60, a civil defence official said on Wednesday. The death toll from a powerful earthquake in the Philippines has risen to at least 69, with the number of patients overwhelming hospitals on the island of Cebu.
“We are receiving additional numbers of reported casualties so this thing is very fluid. We are receiving reports [that] as high as 60 individuals are reported to have perished in this earthquake,” Rafaelito Alejandro, deputy administrator of the government’s civil defence office told reporters in Manila. Injured children cried and adults screamed as they were treated on beds beneath blue tents outside the Cebu provincial hospital. They had been wheeled outside as a precaution against waves of aftershocks overnight.
The shallow quake struck off Bogo, a city of 90,000 near the northern tip of the populous island of Cebu late Tuesday, collapsing buildings and tearing up roads. The shallow, magnitude-6.9 quake struck late on Tuesday in the north of Cebu, near Bogo, a city of 90,000 people, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
“There could be people trapped beneath collapsed buildings,” he said, adding that rescue efforts were under way in the town of San Remigio and in Bogo. He said he did not know how many people were missing. The agency said that by Wednesday evening, more than 700 aftershocks had been recorded, although it added most were minor.
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 hit by about 20 typhoons and storms each year. “We can expect aftershocks in the epicentral area,” Phivolcs said. “These aftershocks could persist for several days to weeks, and some may be felt in nearby provinces.”
On Tuesday night, recovery efforts were hampered by the dark as well as aftershocks, Ramos said. The US Geological Service has recorded four quakes of magnitude 5.0 or higher in the area since the first tremor. At the Cebu provincial hospital, workers loaded black body bags into vans that took the dead to local mortuaries.
Martham Pacilan, 25, who lives in the resort town of Bantayan, also near the quake centre, said he was at the town square near a church, which had been damaged. “Many of them were pinned down by debris, which caused their death,” the Office of Civil Defense deputy administrator Rafaelito Alejandro said on local television, putting the updated death toll at 69.
“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,” he said. “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.” Richard Guion, 39, his left elbow heavily bandaged, told how he and his wife, who broke her foot, were dug from under the collapsed concrete wall of their home by their 17-year-old son, who was playing outside when the quake struck. “When the cement collapsed, I called out to him,” said Guion, thankful his son ignored his order to go to bed early.
The Cebu provincial government reported a commercial building and a school in Bantayan had collapsed, while a number of village roads had sustained damage. Thirty people were killed in Bogo, Alejandro said. In other municipalities near the quake’s centre, 22 were killed in San Remigio, 10 in Medellin, five in Tabogon and one each in Sogod and Tabuelan, he said. The Bogo hospital put the number of injured at 186 so far.
In Bogo, the quake damaged the concrete walls of houses, a fire station and roads, firefighter Rey Cañete 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,” Cañete told the AP, adding that he and three other firefighters sustained cuts and bruises. Teddy Fontillas, 56, told the Agence France-Presse news agency he had not slept while he helped transfer the injured to other hospitals. “I’m already struggling, but what we are doing is necessary to help our patients,” he said.
The quake caused power lines to trip, leading to outages across Cebu and nearby central islands, the Philippines National Grid said, adding it was assessing the extent of the damage. Elsewhere in Bogo, firefighters used excavators to drill holes into the collapsed heap of a two-storey motel, where two receptionists and a child were feared trapped beneath debris.
The Cebu provincial governor, Pamela Baricuatro, urged residents in a live video message on her official Facebook account to “stay calm and move to open areas; keep away from walls or structures that may collapse and stay alert for aftershocks”. A distraught Isagani Jilig, whose wife and child were among the missing, joined about 100 people watching the rescue. “I will never leave this site until I find them again. As a father, I have to be strong now more than ever,” said Jilig, 41.
She said the provincial government was assessing the situation and contacting municipal officials. A firefighter, Erwin Castaneda, said they had been searching for five hours but “we cannot give up”. “We are talking about lives here. We will do everything that we can,” he said.
The US Geological Service had reported a magnitude reading of 7.0, before revising it down, while the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no tsunami threat. The president, Ferdinand Marcos, pledged swift aid for victims. “I offer my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families,” he said.
With Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Associated Press Dramatic footage filmed by residents on Bantayan Island, near the island of Cebu, showed a string of lightbulbs on an old Catholic church swaying wildly before the church’s belfry tumbled into the courtyard. Local television showed riders dismounting from their motorcycles and holding on to railings as a Cebu bridge rocked violently.
The Cebu provincial government has put out a call on its official Facebook page for medical volunteers to assist in the quake aftermath.
Local media reported that authorities had imposed price fixing on basic goods and fuel, to keep essential products available to people affected by the quake.
Earthquakes are a near-daily occurrence in the Philippines, which is situated on the Pacific “ring of fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through south-east Asia and across the Pacific basin. Cebu is a seismically active area.
Most are too weak to be felt by humans but strong and destructive quakes come at random, with no technology available to predict when and where they might strike.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report