On February 6, 2012 at 11:49 in the morning, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck the Visayas Region in the central part of the Philippines, leaving 43 dead and several more missing in villages in Tayasan, Negros Oriental (one of the places closest to the epicenter), Cebu, and surrounding places.
The earthquake was followed by a series of landslides which buried people under their homes, and also aftershocks as strong as 6.0 and above on the Richter Scale. Search-and-rescue operations are ongoing as of this posting, with rescue workers digging under the rubble of collapsed homes or buildings in search of any survivors.
Shortly after the quake, a tsunami warning alert was raised, but was eventually lifted two hours later after the threat subsided. Local officials advised residents to remain in evacuation centers to avoid any more injuries in case of major aftershocks.
In the neighboring island of Cebu, the events during and after the quake were caught on CCTV cameras. The cameras in various locations captured the moment as the earthquake hit, sending people out of buildings and onto the streets of the busy city. The panic resulted in major traffic jams as people scrambled to get as far away from the shore as possible, following a hoax text message telling people that a tsunami would hit.
The Philippines, along with other countries such as Indonesia and Japan, sits on the "Pacific Ring of Fire", a region where shifting tectonic plates result in frequent earthquakes. At least 20 earthquakes hit the Philippines on a daily basis, but only a few are actually felt.
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