Magnitude 7.2 Earthquake Hits Philippines Leaving At Least 12 Dead

October 15, 2013

A 7.2-magnitude earthquake collapsed buildings and roofs and cracked roads Tuesday morning in the central Philippines, killing at least 20 people and injuring 33 others.

Fifteen of the fatalities were in Cebu, the country's second most important city, civil defence office spokesman Reynaldo Balido told reporters.

The quake was felt across the central region, and people rushed out of buildings and homes, including hospitals, as aftershocks continued. Offices and schools were closed for a national holiday, which may lower casualties.

The temblor struck about 56 kilometres deep below Carmen town on Bohol Island and did not cause a tsunami in the seas around the archipelago.

At least four were killed on Bohol, said the island's Gov. Edgardo Chatto.

The epicentre of the quake was on the island of Bohol, about 600km south of Manila. Pic: Google

Five others died when part of a fish port collapsed in Cebu city, across the strait from Bohol, officials said. Two more people died and 19 were injured when the roof of a market in Mandaue in Cebu province collapsed. A woman died after being hit on the head when the quake toppled a building.

The quake struck at 08:12 local time (10.12AEST) about 5km east of Balilihan, in the Bohol region of the archipelago, at a depth of 56km, the US Geological Survey reported.

The epicentre was 629km from the capital Manila.

People rushed out of buildings and homes, including hospitals as aftershocks continued.

Roads were damaged by the quake. Picture: via Twitter

Photos from Cebu broadcast on TV stations showed a fallen concrete 2-story building, and reports said two people were pulled alive, including an 8-month-old baby.

"It's fortunate that many offices and schools are closed due to the holiday,'' said Jade Ponce, the Cebu mayor's assistant.

He said that patients were evacuated to basketball courts and other open spaces "but we'll move them back as soon as the buildings are declared safe.''

Vilma Yorong, a Bohol provincial government employee, said she was in a village hall in Maribojoc town when "the lights suddenly went out and we felt the earthquake."

"We ran out of the building, and outside, we hugged trees because the tremors were so strong," she told The Associated Press by phone. "When the shaking stopped, I ran to the street and there I saw several injured people. Some were saying their church has collapsed."

She said that she and the others ran up a mountain fearing a tsunami would follow the quake. "Minutes after the earthquake, people were pushing each other to go up the hill," she said.

Bohol Gov. Edgardo Chatto said that a church was reported damaged in the provincial capital of Tagbilaran and a part of the city hall collapsed, injuring one person.

Tuesday is a national holiday for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, and that may have reduced casualties because schools and offices are closed. The earthquake also was deep below the surface, unlike the 6.9-magnitude temblor last year in waters near Negros Island, also in the central Philippines, that killed nearly 100 people.

Balilihan lies across the Cebu Strait from the popular tourist destination of Cebu City, the country's fifth most populous city.

Balilihan has a population of around 18,500, according to the town's official website.

USGS issued a yellow warning, after the quake saying ''some casualties and damage are possible and the impact should be relatively localised. Past yellow alerts have required a local or regional level response.''

The quake was followed by two aftershocks, each measuring more than 5.0 in magnitude.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said there was no threat of a Pacific-wide tsunami after the quake.

Adjunct Professor Kevin McCue from the Australian Seismological Centre said earthquakes are common in the Philippines, which lies along the Pacific ''Rim of Fire'', a chain of islands that are prone to quakes and volcanic eruptions.

''The magnitude was more like 7.1 or 7.2 and the mechanism was a shallow thrust so it is possible that a locally damaging tsunami was generated. Such earthquakes are relatively common on this section of the Philippine Plate and if building codes are complied with there wouldn't be too much damage to properly engineered structures, unfortunately these building codes are often ignored whether you are in the Philippines or Australia.''

A 17th-century stone church in Loboc town, southwest of Carmen, crumbled to pieces, with nearly half of it reduced to rubble. Other old churches dating from the Spanish colonial period, which are common in the central region, also reported damage.