00:00Another major story developing this hour. At least 69 people have been killed and well officials have said nearly 150 injured after a 6.9 magnitude earthquake in the Philippines. Buildings on the island of Cebu were damaged, roads damaged and the quake caused power lines to trip leading to outages across the island there and the region.
00:25Footage shows people rushing for cover during a beauty pageant in Cebu City as the powerful earthquake hit here.
00:37And people can be heard appealing to God as they shelter under tables at the Radisson Blue Hotel where they'd gathered.
00:46Well earlier I spoke to Felipe Salvosa, editor of the new fact-checking website Press 1.
00:52The latest death toll is 69 dead and about 180 people injured because of this quake that hit just before 10 p.m. last night in the central of the Philippines.
01:09The earthquake hit off the coast of the northern city of Bogo, a city of about 9,000 people and along it two other towns were badly hit, the San Remigio and the Anbantayan where substation became unavailable because of the earthquake.
01:29So this was a quake tectonic in origin and the intensity so high, intensity 7, the magnitude was also a huge one, 6.9, that the earthquake was felt up north in the main island of Luzon in Quezon province, closer to Manila, and then also down in Mindanao in Zamboanga province.
01:51And how usual is something like this, an earthquake of this magnitude there?
01:58Oh, the region is no stranger to earthquakes.
02:02The last big one was in 2013, which struck in the island of Bohol but also affected the island that we're talking about, Cebu.
02:14So as in the current quake, many structures were affected, including century-old churches, public buildings, bridges, and roads.
02:26When the quake struck last night at 10 p.m., there was a basketball match called the Mayor's Cup.
02:34And then, of course, there were young athletes and then some local officials, some of them were first responders who themselves were affected by the quake.
02:41And then, of course, the searches are ongoing for people trapped underneath collapsed buildings.
02:49The church has canceled all masses in the north of Cebu.
02:53There was a price freeze declared on essential fuel like kerosene.
03:00And then the entire province of Cebu has been placed under a state of calamity.
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