Strong earthquake kills more than 60 in central Philippines

A powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake jolted the central Philippines on Tuesday, killing at least 69 people.

The earthquake struck at 9.59pm local time off Cebu island's northern end, near Bogo, a city of 90,000 people, according to the US Geological Survey.

Civil defence deputy administrator Raffy Alejandro said the death toll remains "fluid" as more reports come in from emergency responders.

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Cebu governor Pamela Baricuatro said the Cebu provincial hospital in Bogo recorded 25 deaths from the city alone.

“Because of the high volume of patients with serious injuries, the medical staff tended to some of them outside the hospital,” Mrs Baricuatro posted on her Facebook page.

Rescuers earlier tallied six more deaths elsewhere in the province, while the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council listed 147 injured across the central islands, where 22 buildings were damaged.

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  A collapsed residential building in Bogo, Cebu province, Philippines. Getty Images

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  Jesiel Malinao, who survived the earthquake, sits next to the coffins of her two children in Bogo. Getty Images

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  A collapsed residential building in Bogo. Getty Images

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  A destroyed residential building in Bogo. Getty Images

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  A rescuer operates at a site where a building collapsed. AFP

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  Damage outside the Archdiocesan Shrine of Santa Rosa de Lima in Daanbantayan, Cebu. AP

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  People inspect a collapsed building where three people were reported missing in Bogo City. AFP

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  Rescuers search for three people in the building in Bogo City. AFP

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  Patients wait outside the Cebu Provincial Hospital Bogo City. AP

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  Rescue personnel stand in front of a damaged structure following a 6. 9-magnitude earthquake, in Daanbantayan, Cebu Province, Philippines, October 1, 2025. Municipality of Daanbantayan/Handout via REUTERS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE. MANDATORY CREDIT. DATE AND TIME STAMP FROM SOURCE TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

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  A collapsed building in Bogo city, Philippines after an earthquake struck on September 30. AP

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  Rescuers carry an injured woman after the earthquake in Ilo-Ilo city, Philippines. EPA

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  Motorists pass a crack in the road along a major motorway in Tabogon town, Cebu province. AFP

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  A McDonald's restaurant damaged by the earthquake in Bogo city. AP

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  Emergency responders inspect the damage at an indoor arena in San Remigio town, Cebu province. AFP

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  People mourn over the body of an earthquake victim, in Bogo city. AP

Dramatic footage filmed by residents and shared widely on social media showed an old Catholic church on Bantayan island near Cebu adorned with a string of light bulbs swaying wildly shortly before its belfry tumbled into the courtyard.

“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,” said Martham Pacilan, who was nearby when the belfry collapsed.

Local television showed riders being forced to dismount from their motorcycles and hold on to railings as a bridge in Cebu rocked violently.

Buildings were damaged as far as Cebu city, 100km south of Bogo, where online shoe merchant Jayford Maranga, 21, hid under a restaurant table to avoid being struck by the collapsing metal ceiling of a shopping mall.

“My friend and I ate at the food court near closing time and then, bang! It was as if the Earth stopped spinning. And then the mall started shaking,” Mr Maranga said. His friend was slightly injured, he added.

The Cebu provincial government has put out a call on its Facebook page for medical volunteers to assist in the aftermath. “There could be people trapped beneath collapsed buildings,” rescue official Wilson Ramos said.

Overnight recovery efforts were hampered by aftershocks, he added. The rescue mission proceeded all night as the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the region was rocked by 379 aftershocks.

The quake caused electricity lines to trip, leading to power cuts across Cebu and nearby central islands, though power was restored shortly after midnight in Cebu and four other major islands, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines said.

The Cebu government reported that a commercial building and a school in Bantayan had collapsed, while a fast-food restaurant in Bogo was heavily damaged.

Agnes Merza, 65, a carer in Bantayan, said her kitchen tiles had cracked. “It felt as though we would all fall down. It's the first time I have experienced it. The neighbours all ran out of their homes. My two teenage assistants hid under a table because that's what they were taught in the Boy Scouts,” she told AFP.

A number of village roads also sustained damage.

Quakes are a near-daily occurrence in the Philippines, which is situated on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through South-east Asia and across the Pacific basin.