Philippines quake kills dozens as injured overwhelm hospitals

"At least 69 people were killed in a powerful earthquake that struck the central Philippine province of Cebu. The magnitude 6.9 earthquake, which occurred at about 10pm (14:00 GMT) on Tuesday, trapped an unspecified number of residents in collapsed houses, nightclubs, and other businesses in Bogo City and outlying rural towns within Cebu, officials said. Rescuers scrambled to find survivors on Wednesday. Army troops, police, and civilian volunteers, supported by backhoe diggers and sniffer dogs, were deployed to conduct house-to-house searches for survivors."

"The epicentre of the earthquake triggered by movement along an undersea fault line at a dangerously shallow depth of 5km (3 miles) was about 19km (12 miles) northeast of Bogo, a coastal city of about 90,000 people in Cebu province, where about half of the deaths were reported, officials said. The death toll in Bogo was likely to rise, according to officials, who noted that intermittent rain and damaged bridges and roads were hampering efforts to save lives."

"Deaths were also reported in the outlying towns of Medellin and San Remigio, where three coastguard personnel, a firefighter, and a child were killed separately by collapsing walls and falling debris while attempting to flee to safety from a basketball game in a sports complex that was disrupted by the quake, town officials said."

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck Cebu province at about 10pm (14:00 GMT), killing at least 69 people and trapping residents in collapsed homes, nightclubs, and businesses. Rescuers including army troops, police, civilian volunteers, backhoe diggers, and sniffer dogs conducted house-to-house searches for survivors. The epicentre lay about 19km northeast of Bogo at a shallow depth of 5km along an undersea fault. Intermittent rain and damaged bridges and roads hampered rescue efforts and raised concerns that the death toll, especially in Bogo, could rise. The region was still recovering from Typhoon Bualoi, which had caused prior deaths and widespread power outages.

Read at www.aljazeera.com