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Historic Bantayan church collapses amid strong earthquake in Philippines | On Cam
A video circulating on the internet showed the lights flickering as the church shook during the quake.
A powerful 6.9 magnitude earthquake rocked the central Philippines on Tuesday, leading to destruction and killing around 20 people and injuring several others in the central Philippine province.
The earthquake struck at 9:50 pm (local time) near Bogo and led residents scrambling out of their homes into the darkness as the strong tremors cut off power.
The powerful quake also destroyed the centuries-old Parish of Saint Peter the Apostle in Bantayan, which crumbled due to the impact of the tremors.
A video circulating on the internet showed the lights flickering as the church trembled during the quake. The visuals then showed a part of the structure collapsing even as the onlookers flee the spot.
25-year-old Martham Pacilan, a resident of Bantayan, said he was at the town square near a church when the tremors started.
Also Read: Earthquake of magnitude 6.9 jolts central Philippines, no tsunami threat
"I heard a loud booming noise from the direction of the church then I saw rocks falling from the structure. Luckily no one got hurt," he said, according to AFP.
"I was in shock and in panic at the same time but my body couldn't move, I was just there waiting for the shake to stop," he added.
A social media post, shared by Radyo Pilipinas, showed a pile of debris with a significant portion of the structure reduced to rubble.
The epicenter of the shallow earthquake was around 17 kilometers northeast of Bogo, a coastal city of about 90,000 people in Cebu province.
The tremors damaged concrete walls of houses, a fire station and roads in Bogo, a firefighter told the Associated Press. The death toll in the area is expected to rise.
Earthquakes are common in the Philippines, which is situated on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
