7.2 Quake Collapses Hospital in Philippines

At least 93 dead in 7.2-magnitude event
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 15, 2013 1:23 AM CDT
Updated Oct 15, 2013 7:03 AM CDT
Major Quake Shakes Philippines
Damaged cars lie under a rubble outside the GMC Plaza Building in Cebu, central Philippines.   (AP Photo/Chester Baldicantos)

A 7.2 quake shook the central Philippines today, killing at least 93 and toppling structures including a hospital and the bell tower at the country's oldest church. The lion's share of those deaths—77 so far—have come on the island of Bohol, which is where the quake's epicenter was located, the AP reports. An unknown number of patients are still trapped within the collapsed hospital in the town of Loon, and rescuers are trying to reach them. The entire province has also lost power.

The quake also killed at least 15 people and caused extensive damage in Cebu, the Philippines' second largest city, which is across a narrow strait from Bohol, the BBC reports. When the quake hit, "we ran out of the building, and outside, we hugged trees because the tremors were so strong," a Bohol provincial government employee says. "Minutes after the earthquake, people were pushing each other to go up the hill" out of fears that a tsunami would follow, she says. But the quake was centered far enough inland that it did not cause a tsunami. (More Philippines stories.)

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