At least 28 people were killed after an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 hit popular island destinations in the Philippines on Tuesday, local authorities said.
Civil defense spokesman Maj. Reynaldo Balido said 15 of the deaths came from Cebu province, an urban and densely populated island.
The earthquake struck at a depth of about 35 km around Bohol Island to the north of Mindanao Island, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Early reports of the impact of the earthquake included news of a collapsed building in Bohol, which killed four people.
According to media reports a 400-year old church in Bohol collapsed. Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said in a radio interview that parts of the Tagbilaran port in Bohol had cracked and collapsed also.
"I've been in several earthquakes in my life," one reader said on Earthquake-Report.com. "This was by far the strongest and most frightening. I thought my building would fall down…Power is out everywhere."
The collapsed church provoked emotional reactions on Twitter:
i pray for the safety of the people there in visayas #earthquake #Philippines
NEW PIC: Loay Church in Bohol, Philippines before & after 7.2 #earthquake
It's heartbreaking to see the 400-year old Loboc Church in ruins because of the earthquake.
— Reuters and AP contributed to this story