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| Basilica Minore del Sto Niño in Cebu City |
This past few days, Philippines have been suffering from different natural phenomena. Luzon have been bashed by tropical storms, Mindanao go through war tensions and just yesterday a strong earthquake shaken the Visayas Region mainly in province of Bohol as the epicenter.
It was a magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Bohol and other part of Central Visayas. Executive Director of Philvocs, Dr. Renato Solidum said that the Bohol seismic activity is within the category of a major earthquake that has an energy equivalent around 32 Hiroshima atomic bombs.
Numerous roads and bridges were broken, making rescue process even hard. Historic places, province trademarks, a number of business establishments and hundreds of households have been devastated. But the major matter, historic churches way back from the Spanish period suffered the most. Basilica Minore del Sto Niño in Cebu City loses its bell tower to the 7.2-magnitude earthquake.
Almost half of a 17th-century limestone church in Loboc town, was reduced to wreckage, as was the largest church on the island in Loon town, where three devotees were buried alive.
Bohol and Cebu have declared a state of calamity. The death toll increases and now has a total of 110 people.
