Magnitude 6 8

Tsunami alert as magnitude 6.8 earthquake kills people in Philippines

Residents are fleeing after a strong earthquake struck the central Philippines, killing at least forty three people and triggering a tsunami alert.

The 6.8-magnitude quake hit in a narrow strait just off Negros Island. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology issued the local tsunami alert for central islands, saying the quake could trigger a 3ft wave along the island’s eastern coast as well as west of the country’s second-largest city, Cebu.

The epicentere was closest to Tayasan, a coastal town of about 32,000 people flanked by mountains in Negros Oriental province. a child there died when a concrete fence of a house collapsed, said Benito Ramos, head of the Office of Civil Defense.

“So far one dead, but we could not yet account for the damage to buildings,” Tayasan police officer Alfred Vicente Silvosa said.

He said there were still aftershocks “so we are outside, at the town plaza. We cannot inspect buildings yet because it’s dangerous.”

“I felt the building shaking, so I rushed out of the building. Our computers, shelves, plates, the cupboards, water dispenser all fell,” he said.