73 DEAD IN PHILIPPINE EARTHQUAKE

At least 73 people have been killed and more than 100 others injured by falling buildings islands popular with tourists in the central Philippines after an earthquake measuring 7.2 hit the region, according to radio reports.
Tuesday's earthquake was centred 56km deep below Carmen town on Bohol Island, about 400km southeast of the capital, Manila, and was felt across the region. The Philippine seismology agency reported at least 110 aftershocks.
Local radio stations also reported fatalities in nearby Cebu province, across a strait from Bohol.
Tuesday is a national holiday and that may have reduced casualties because schools and offices are closed.
Report from Siquijor Island, said school buildings had collapsed in Bohol and that the government was assessing the damage and sending out rescue teams from other outlying islands.
Bohol has 1.2 million people and is popular among foreigners because of its beach and island resorts.
Philippine radio reports quoted an official from the national disaster agency as saying four people died on Bohol when buildings collapsed during the quake.
A 17th century stone church in Loboc, a town southwest of Carmen, crumbled to pieces, with nearly half of it reduced to rubble.
Robert Poole, an arts journalist from Tokyo who was holidaying in Bohol, told Al Jazeera there were no casualties at the site possibly because of the national holiday.
Earthquakes are said to be common in Philippine which lies in the Pacific Ring of fire

Source:Aljazeera