Rescuers search for survivors after Philippine quake kills at least 69

Rescue teams in the Philippines searched for survivors in mud and rubble on Oct 1, and the authorities urged help for hospitals inundated with the injured after the deadliest earthquake in more than a decade killed at least 69 people.

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The authorities said they feared the eventual toll would be even higher from the shallow 6.9-magnitude earthquake, which struck in waters off the central holiday island of Cebu late on Sept 30.

Buildings came crashing down, including a church that was more than 100 years old.

Shops, homes and bridges were damaged across the island’s northern coast and power was cut.

Aftershocks continued throughout Oct 1, as the authorities set up mobile kitchens for hundreds of evacuees and raced to provide temporary power as night approached.

Bodies covered in black sheets were carried on stretchers and placed side by side on the ground outside a hospital in Bogo, the worst-affected city, along the coast about 18km from the epicentre.

A man wept as he pulled back a plastic sheet and clutched the face of a dead relative.

Civil defence teams were searching for signs of life beneath a landslide that had killed at least 14 people in the city.