CEBU CITY (2nd Update) - The death toll from the magnitude 7.2 quake that struck Bohol, Cebu and affected nearby provinces rose to 107 as of 10 a.m. Wednesday, said the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
Of the 107 fatalities, the NDRRMC said 98 were from Bohol, eight from Cebu, and one from Siquijor.
The NDRRMC said 276 were injured while three were rescued in Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor. The quake has so far affected 558,390 families or 2,841,956 people.
The NDRRMC also said 823 aftershocks have been recorded as of 9 a.m. Wednesday.
President Benigno Aquino III and some Cabinet officials are in Bohol Wednesday morning.
Secretaries Manuel Roxas II (Local Government), Dinky Soliman (Social Welfare), Joseph Abaya (Transportation) and Rogelio Singson (Public Works) were already in Bohol to oversee rescue, clearing and relief operations.
The quake struck at 8:12 a.m. and was centered about 33 kilometers (20 miles) below Carmen City in Bohol, where many small buildings collapsed.
The Department of Public Works and Highways reported damaged roads and bridges in Bohol and Cebu. In Bohol, 20 bridges were affected by the earthquake and 18 of which are not passable.
As a result of the earthquake’s destructive force, the following bridges were damaged and impassable: Abatan Bridge along Tagbilaran North Road, bridge collapse; Camayaan Bridge along Tagbilaran North Road in Cortes, bridge approach damage; Tultogan Bridge along Tagbilaran North Road in Calape, bridge approach collapse; Tagbuane Bridge along Tagbilaran East Road in Albur, bridge collapse; Moalong Bridge along Tagbilaran North Road, bridge collapse; Hunan Bridge along Tagbilaran North Road, settlement of bridge approach; Taguimtim, Damiao and Daet Bridges along Tagbilaran North Road in Buenavista, settlement of bridge approach; Palo, Hinawanan, Bonkokan, Banban, and Panangatan Bridges along Tagbilaran East Road, bridge approaches with cracks/settlement; and Agape Bridge along Loay Interior Road, bridge approaches with cracks.
Two other bridges were damaged but passable namely Suarez Bridge along Dawis Panglao Road and Salog Bridge along Tagbilaran North Road while the Panangatan River Control, a flood control structure along Tagbilaran East Road was totally damaged.
The Tagbilaran port is now open for fastcraft as the Civil Aeronautics Board is looking at arranging free trips for relief and rescue efforts.
Relief goods from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) were already transported by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to Bohol.
Historic churches dating from the Spanish colonial period suffered the most. Among them was the country's oldest, the 16th-century Basilica of the Holy Child in Cebu, which lost its bell tower.
Nearly half of a 17th-century limestone church in Loboc town, southwest of Carmen, was reduced to rubble.
The highest number of dead -- 18 -- were in the municipality of Loon, 42 kilometers (26 miles) west of Carmen, where an unknown number of patients were trapped inside the Congressman Castillo Memorial Hospital, which partially collapsed. Rescuers were working to reach them, said civil defense spokesman Major Reynaldo Balido.
As night fell, the entire Bohol province was in the dark after the quake cuts power supplies. Power, however, has been restored in some parts of the province, particularly in Tagbilaran City, according to the Philippine Information Agency.
The Department of Energy said three substations in Bohol in Carmen, Panglao and Loay have been energized.
Windy weather and rain also forced back a military rescue helicopter.
Weather forecasters earlier warned that Cebu and Bohol may have to brace for possible rain on Wednesday. In its special weather forecast for the two provinces, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain may occur on Thursday.
"Cebu and Bohol will have cloudy skies with light to moderate rain showers and thunderstorms (Wednesday) while partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms on Thursday," Pagasa said.
Authorities were setting up tents for those displaced by the quake, while others who lost their homes moved in with their relatives, Bohol Governor Edgardo Chatto said.
The NDRRMC said at least 13 evacuation centers were initially set up and serving 1,830 families or 9,150 people in Bohol. The Department of Social Welfare and Development said, however, that some families preferred the open spaces because of fear of continuing aftershocks.
Governor Chatto declared the entire Bohol province under a state of calamity Tuesday afternoon.
Extensive damage also hit densely populated Cebu City, across a narrow strait from Bohol, causing deaths when a building in Pasil port and the roof of a market area collapsed. The province was also placed under a state of calamity.
The quake also set off two stampedes in nearby city of Toledo and Pinamungajan town.
Neil Sanchez, Cebu provincial disaster management officer, said when the quake struck, people gathered in Barba Sports B-Complex in Toledo City rushed outside in a panic, crushing five people to death and injuring eight others.
The stampede in Pinamungajan also killed several others, including a four-year-old girl.
Landslides were also noted in Barangay Kawasan, Aloguinsan, as well as in Barangays Gutlang, Canulam, Canbantug, Lapay and Bulasa in Argao, Cebu after the tremor.
"We ran out of the building, and outside, we hugged trees because the tremors were so strong," said Vilma Yorong, a Provincial Government employee in Bohol.
"When the shaking stopped, I ran to the street and there I saw several injured people. Some were saying their church has collapsed," she told The Associated Press by phone.
As fear set in, Yorong and the others ran up a mountain, afraid a tsunami would follow the quake. "Minutes after the earthquake, people were pushing each other to go up the hill," she said.
But the quake was centered inland and did not cause a tsunami.
The earthquake also was deeper below the surface than a 6.9-magnitude temblor last year in waters near Negros Island, also in the central Philippines, that killed nearly 100 people.
Aledel Cuizon said the quake that caught her in her bedroom sounded like "a huge truck that was approaching and the rumbling sound grew louder as it got closer."
She and her neighbors ran outside, where she saw concrete electric poles "swaying like coconut trees." It lasted 15-20 seconds, she said.
Cebu City's hospitals quickly moved patients into the streets, basketball courts and parks.
(Video by Jean Mondonedo-Ynot/Sunnex)
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) recorded as of 5 p.m. 289 aftershocks since the magnitude-7.2 tremor.
Cebu province, about 570 kilometers (350 miles) south of Manila, has a population of more than 2.6 million people. Cebu is the second largest city after Manila. Nearby Bohol has 1.2 million people and is popular among foreigners because of its beach and island resorts and famed Chocolate Hills.
President Benigno Aquino III said he would travel to Bohol and Cebu on Wednesday.
Regional military commander Lieutenant General Roy Deveraturda said he recalled soldiers from holiday furlough to respond to the quake. He said it damaged the pier in Tagbilaran, Bohol's provincial capital, and caused some cracks at Cebu's international airport but that navy ships and air force planes could use alternative ports to help out. (AP/JK/Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)