Magnitude 6.9 earthquake hits off central Philippines coast

Earthquake sends people running into the streets, damages buildings after hitting off Cebu island.

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake has struck off the coast of the central Philippines, sending people running into the streets and knocking power out in some areas.

The quake struck at sea on Tuesday off the northern tip of Cebu island and near Bogo, a city of more than 90,000 people, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said, adding that it expected both damage and aftershocks.

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The institute urged residents in the provinces of Cebu, Leyte and Biliran to stay away from the coast due to a “minor sea level disturbance” and told them to “be on alert for unusual waves”.

However, there was no tsunami threat after the tremor, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

“We are still assessing the damage,” Pamela Baricuatro, the governor of Cebu, said in a video posted on social media.

“But it could be worse than we think,” said Baricuatro, adding that she has been in touch with the president’s office and is asking for aid.

People gather on a street after earthquake tremors in the central Philippines [AFP]

No casualties were immediately reported by the Philippine authorities.

The Cebu provincial government said a commercial building and a school in Bantayan had collapsed, however, while a number of village roads had also sustained damage.

“There could be people trapped beneath collapsed buildings,” provincial rescue official Wilson Ramos told the AFP news agency, adding that he didn’t know how many people are missing.

The US Geological Service also recorded four earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 or higher in the area following the first tremor.

‘Shock and panic’

Cebu firefighter Joey Leeguid told AFP from the town of San Fernando that he felt the quake at his fire station.

“We saw our locker moving from left to right. We felt slightly dizzy for a while, but we are all fine now,” Leeguid said.

Martham Pacilan, a 25-year-old resident of the resort town of Bantayan near the epicentre, said he was at the town square near a church when the quake struck.

“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 told AFP.

“I was in shock and in panic at the same time, but my body couldn’t move. I was just there waiting for the shaking to stop.”

The Archdiocesan Shrine of Santa Rosa de Lima, a church in Daanbantayan, a town in Cebu province, said the structure had partially collapsed. Power also went out in Daanbantayan.

The Philippines experiences near-daily earthquakes, and a powerful magnitude 7 quake in July 2022 killed at least five people and injured 60 others.

In December 2023, another large earthquake shook the southern Philippines, killing at least one person and forcing thousands to evacuate.