In the Philippines, Search Teams Look for Survivors of Deadly Earthquake

A village built to provide safe homes for survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan more than a decade ago was among the hardest-hit by an earthquake late Tuesday in the Philippines.

At least 10 people died in that village alone, said Wilson Ramos, an emergency worker with a local disaster response unit, among what the authorities said were at least 69 people confirmed dead across Cebu Province, where the 6.9-magnitude quake was centered.

“This area was built to safeguard storm survivors and people from high-risk zones,” Mr. Ramos said. “I cannot yet say whether those who died were also Haiyan survivors; more than 10 years have passed. But this village was intended to give them a new home.”

Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro, a deputy administrator for the civil defense office, said at a news briefing that the response efforts were centering on the northern tip of Cebu’s main island, including Bogo City, where the village for Haiyan survivors was established in 2014.

Funded by a charity, the village was intended to provide 200 “disaster resilient homes” for survivors of Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda, which devastated the country in 2013, killing more than 6,000 people. It was also meant to relocate residents from coastal danger zones.

Jeany Ynot, chief of Bogo City’s disaster unit, said, “Some families were completely gone, and in other cases, several members of one family died.”

The village was established by SM Cares, the social arm of one of the Philippines’ largest corporations. It did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment Wednesday evening.

Elsewhere, many residents were buried under soil and large boulders in a landslide caused by the quake, with the mountainous village of Binabag affected especially badly, Ms. Ynot said in an interview.

At the news briefing, Mr. Alejandro said, “Right now, the priority is search and rescue.”

“Many are reported trapped under debris because of the earthquake,” he added.

Officials said infrastructure damage in the area was widespread, with at least 11 bridges impassable; key roads blocked by landslides; and government buildings, including Bogo City Hall, a municipal hall in another town and a sports complex, either collapsed or partially destroyed.

Ms. Empaces said that two or three hospitals had been rendered unusable and that power and communications were down in at least three municipalities.

Mr. Alejandro said public works personnel were being sent to Cebu to inspect buildings and had been instructed to prioritize hospitals, schools and roads.

In Bogo City alone, Mr. Alejandro said, about 1,000 residents had been forced to stay in open spaces, pending inspections of their homes.

The quake was the deadliest in the country since a 2013 temblor in Bohol.