Strong earthquake in central Philippines sends people out of homes and sparks local tsunami warning

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A strong offshore earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.9 shook the central Philippines late Tuesday, sending panicked people dashing out into streets, damaging a stone church and prompting a local tsunami warning.

The earthquake was centered about 17 kilometers (10 miles) northeast of Bogo city in Cebu province.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology issued a tsunami warning and advised people to stay away from the coastlines in Cebu and in the nearby provinces of Leyte and Biliran due to possible waves of up to 1 meter (3 feet). Teresito Bacolcol, director of the institute, told The Associated Press that damage and aftershocks were expected.

Panicked people shouted in the streets of Cebu City. Power went out in the Cebu provincial town of Daanbantayan, where the stone church is located. The extent of the damage to the church was not immediately known.

Central Philippine provinces were still recovering from a storm that hit on Friday, leaving at least 27 people dead mostly due to drownings and falling trees, knocking out power in entire cities and towns and forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.

The Philippines, one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, is often hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic faults around the ocean. The archipelago is also lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms each year.