7.2 Magnitude Earthquake Rocks The Philippines

At least ninety-three people dead but no threat of a tsunami to follow in the Pacific region

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Chester Baldicantos / AP

Damaged cars lie under a rubble outside the GMC Plaza Building in Cebu, central Philippines Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013

Updated: 9:50 A.M October 15, 2013.

A major, 7.2 magnitude earthquake shook the central Philippines just after 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, killing at least 93 people. The quake struck at a depth of about 20 miles near Bohol Province, just one mile south of the Carmen, a city of about 45,000, but the temblor was felt across the central region.

Low-rise buildings collapsed, power lines were cut and hospitals were forced to evacuate patients. The shaking set off stampedes in two nearby cities. On the neighboring island of Cebu, five people were crushed to death when those gathered in a crowded gym rushed outside after the earthquake started. But because of the quake’s inland epicenter, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii announced there was no major threat of a tsunami in the region.

[AP]

[Reuters]