The death toll in the powerful 7.2- magnitude earthquake that hit Bohol and other parts of Visayas and Mindanao Tuesday morning rose to 32, authorities said.
Renato Solidum, head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, likened the energy released by the quake to “32 Hiroshima bombs.” The earthquake toppled buildings and historic churches and sending terrified residents into deadly stampedes.
At least 16 people died in Bohol and 15 in Cebu, officials said. Scores were injured.
“We ran out of the building, and outside, we hugged trees because the tremors were so strong,” said Vilma Yorong, a Bohol provincial government employee.
“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.
As fear set in, Yorong and the others ran up a mountain, afraid a tsunami would follow the quake. “Minutes after the earthquake, people were pushing each other to go up the hill,” she said.
Panic ensued as people spilled out on the street after the quake struck at 8:12 a.m. It was centered about 33 kilometers (20 miles) below Carmen town on Bohol Island, where many buildings collapsed, roads cracked up and bridges fell. Extensive damage also hit densely populated Cebu City, across the narrow strait from Bohol, causing deaths when a fish port and a market roof fell.
Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/507169/6-dead-power-down-as-7-2-quake-hits-bohol#ixzz3X1NRQdQ7
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