Official quake death toll revised downward in Philippines

The official death toll from the deadly earthquake in central Philippines was revised downward to 22 Tuesday afternoon, government officials said. The offshore earthquake, measured up to a magnitude of 6.9 by Philippine seismologists, struck the provinces of Negros and Cebu on the Visayas islands Monday. In addition to the death toll, it left scores of people missing in landslides and other quake-triggered incidents, destroyed bridges and roads, knocked out essential services and unleashed hundreds of aftershocks. The Philippine News Agency said as of 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council officially placed the death toll at 22, with 12 reported killed in Guihulngan City, three each in Jimalalud, Bindoy, and Tayasan towns and one in Manjuyod in Negros province. The news agency said earlier reports reaching the Philippine army had placed the number death at 48 based on information provided by local governments, but the figures were reduced after the army "learned that not all believed dead in various towns and cities were accounted for." The report also said authorities, however, feared the death toll could still rise in the coming days as scores were reported missing by the disaster council in landslides and collapses homes in the province's Guihulngan City, La Libertad and other towns. Rescue workers, encountering numerous odds, worked continuously to with their search operations to find the victims. The quake also damaged several bridges with three of them rendered impassable in the towns of La Libertad, Jimalalud and Guihulngan. More than 11,000 families have been displaced. CNN quoted the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council on Wednesday as saying the official death toll had risen to 26, with 71 people still missing. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said it had recorded more than 1,000 aftershocks since Monday and warned residents near the epicenter there could be more such shocks in the coming weeks, the Philippine Star reported Wednesday. Rescue workers at the sites of landslides and collapses homes were using every means including their bare hands to reach the trapped victims, the report said.