At least 69 people were killed aftar a powerful earthquake struck off the coast of Cebu province in the Central Philippines late on Tuesday.
The incident causes homes to collapse, roads, and public buildings in the region still reeling from a deadly storm just days before.
Officials mentioned how 14 people passed away in the coastal city of Bogo, where a landslide buried shanties in a mountain village.
12 more were killed in the Medellin town after ceilings and walls of homes gave way, while five people, including three coast guard personnel and a firefighter, passed away in San Remigio when a basketball game was disrupted by the tremor and they were crushed by falling walls.
Rescue teams were struggling to reach cut-off villages amid cracked highways, damaged water systems, and widespread power outages.
Hundreds of residents spent the night in open fields, fearing major aftershocks. The quake’s epicenter was nearly 19 km northeast of Bogo at a shallow depth of 5km. A small tsunami warning was rolled out and later lifted. Cebu governor Pamela Baricuatro warned that the full extent of the destruction might only become clear in the daytime.