107 dead, 9 missing in Visayas quake

MANILA, Philippines - (UPDATED) The magnitude-7.2 earthquake that rattled Central Visayas has now killed 107 people, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said Wednesday.

At a televised press briefing, OCD spokesperson Reynaldo Balido Jr. said 97 fatalities were from Bohol province, nine from Cebu and one death was reported in Siquijor.

Balido added that 276 people were also injured due to the earthquake.

But Chief Supt. Danilo Constantino, Central Visayas regional police director, placed the number of injuries at 280. He told Philstar.com that nine people are also missing.

The police official said search and rescue operations are now being conducted in Loon town, Bohol. The OCD has yet to acount the number of missing people.

Balilio said as of 8 p.m. Tuesday, all areas with reported power outages have been restored. There are also no more stranded passengers at all seaports in the affected areas.

At 8:12 a.m. Tuesday, an earthquake of tectonic origin with a 7.2 magnitude occurred in Central Visayas with the epicenter traced at Carmen town, Bohol.

Intensity VII was felt in Tagbilaran City, the provincial capital, and Cebu City.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology has recorded 823 aftershocks as of 8 a.m. today.

Read: 823 aftershocks recorded nearly 24 hours after deadly Bohol quake

Authorities earlier said that more than 2.8 million are affected by the earthquake in 879 villages. More than12,000 are currently inside evacuation centers after the deadly quake damaged several buildings, roads, facilities and even centuries-old churches.

Devastation in Bohol

The small coastal town of Loon reported 20 fatalities, the highest in Bohol, including those buried in a hospital and a church.

Many roads and bridges were damaged, making rescue operations difficult. But historic churches dating from the Spanish colonial period suffered the most. The country's oldest, the 16th-century Basilica of the Holy Child in Cebu, lost its bell tower.

Nearly half of a 17th-century limestone church in Loboc town, southwest of Carmen, was reduced to rubble, as was the largest church on the island in Loon town, where three worshippers were buried alive.

The entire province was without electricity after the quake cut power supplies.

Authorities set up tents for those displaced by the quake, while others who lost their homes moved in with their relatives, Bohol Gov. Edgardo Chatto said.

Extensive damage also hit densely populated Cebu city, across a narrow strait from Bohol, causing deaths when a building in the port and the roof of a market area collapsed.

The quake set off two stampedes in nearby cities. When it struck, people gathered in a gym in Cebu rushed outside in a panic, crushing five people to death and injuring eight others, said Neil Sanchez, provincial disaster management officer.

"We ran out of the building, and outside, we hugged trees because the tremors were so strong," said Vilma Yorong, a provincial government employee in Bohol.

"When the shaking stopped, I ran to the street and there I saw several injured people. Some were saying their church has collapsed," she told The Associated Press by phone.

Offices and schools were closed for a national holiday — the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha — which may have saved lives.

Aledel Cuizon said the quake that caught her in her bedroom sounded like "a huge truck that was approaching and the rumbling sound grew louder as it got closer."

She and her neighbors ran outside, where she saw concrete electric poles "swaying like coconut trees." It lasted 15-20 seconds, she said.

Cebu province, about 570 kilometers (350 miles) south of Manila, has a population of more than 2.6 million people. Cebu is the second largest city after Manila. Nearby Bohol has 1.2 million people and is popular among foreigners because of its beach and island resorts and famed Chocolate Hills.

The Philippine archipelago is located in the Pacific "Ring of Fire," where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common. A magnitude-7.7 quake killed nearly 2,000 people on the northern island of Luzon in 1990. - with Bulilit Marquez, The Associated Press