At least 69 people have been killed and dozens injured after a powerful 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck the central Philippines late on Tuesday, the BBC reports.
The province of Cebu, which suffered the brunt of the damage, declared a state of calamity early on Wednesday, after thousands spent the night on the streets amid repeated aftershocks.
Most of the victims were from Bogo city, a small town on one of the largest islands in the Visayas Islands, the Philippines’ central region – and the place closest to the earthquake’s epicenter.
The earthquake comes barely more than a week after the country was hit by back-to-back typhoons which killed more than a dozen people.
