The Philippines is no stranger to earthquakes—it sits on the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire. But a temblor which struck on Tuesday, Sept. 30, became the deadliest the country has ever experienced since at least 2013.

A 6.9-magnitude quake hit just before 10 p.m. local time (10 a.m. ET), Philippine seismologists reported , off the shore of coastal Bogo City (pop. 90,000) in the island province of Cebu in the archipelagic Southeast Asian country’s center.

The quake’s epicenter was shallow, only some 5 km below the surface, which means its energy needed to travel less distance before hitting infrastructure . The seismic energy was strong enough to cause buildings to collapse —including a century-old church —and to leave cracks on bridges . In one affected town, the quake

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