Deadly magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Philippine island

Television footage showed people scurrying out of buildings and frightened school children in tears [AFP]

A magnitude 6.7 earthquake off the central Philippine island of Negros has killed at least six people, including two children, and dozens missing.

Following dozens of aftershocks on Monday, government offices and schools were ordered to close.

A grade-six pupil died after being plucked out from a collapsed chapel wall, while a nine-year-old girl was killed when the concrete wall of a school collapsed, officials said.

A three-storey building caved in and some seaside cottages were destroyed by waves in La Libertad, Negros Oriental, near the epicentre of the earthquake, 5km off the shore of Tayasan town, and at a depth of 10km, according to local calculations.

Some roads, bridges and houses also sustained cracks, but major roads remained passable.

With the earthquake felt in areas within a radius of about 113km, the US Geological Survey measured the quake at magnitude 6.7 and at a depth of 20km.

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