A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck the central Philippines on Tuesday, Sept. 30, leaving at least 69 dead and 147 more injured according to the Philippines’ Office of Civil Defense (OCD) on the morning of Oct. 1.

The quake hit the Cebu and Northern Samar provinces around 10 p.m. local time, shaking Bogo City, Cebu City and the neighboring region of Laoang, as reported by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology and OCD.

Authorities declared “a state of calamity” in Cebu, reported the BBC, sending army and air force troops to assist in recovery and aid efforts as citizens contend with aftershocks, power outages and severe infrastructure damage.

Bell tower of centuries-old church falls in Cebu

In one remarkable example of the damage caused by the earthquake, a video from Bantayan Island in Cebu captured the bell tower of a centuries-old church falling from its perch amid the Earth's intense shaking. Lights and stones can be seen falling from the church before the belfry plummets to the ground, smashing into the concrete below.

The earthquake comes after back-to-back typhoons killed more than two dozen people in late September. Super Typhoon Ragasa and Typhoon Bualoi tore through the area last week, according to reporting from The Guardian and BBC.

According to the outlets, Bualoi killed at least 11 people in the Philippines, while Ragasa, the strongest storm of 2025, killed at least 28 people in the northern Philippines and Taiwan before making landfall in Hong Kong and China.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Watch centuries-old church's bell tower crumble during Philippines earthquake

Reporting by Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect