Loon town in Bohol hardest hit by quake

This Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013 photo shows a collapsed building in Bohol after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck the central Philippine island of Bohol in the morning. AP/STR

MANILA, Philippines – With 20 people dead and a centuries-old church reduced to rubble, Loon town was the hardest-hit by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that shook Bohol on Tuesday morning, Governor Edgar Chatto told Radyo Inquirer 990AM.

“In terms of casualties, Loon (was the most affected),” Chatto said of the biggest town, with a population of more than 40,000, under the 1^stdistrict of Bohol.

“Our record now is 20 (fatalities) but because individuals are still being retrieved (the number) may rise to 30,” he added.

Earlier reports said 18 were found dead while a number of people remained trapped inside the Congressman Castillo Memorial Hospital in Loon after its building partially collapsed during the earthquake.

“There are search operations in certain areas where we have been receiving (reports) of people (left buried) that needed to be retrieved like in Loon,” Chatto said.

The governor also said damaged roads and bridges had cut off the towns of Loon and Maribojoc from Bohol’s capital Tagbilaran.

He said they were waiting for aid from the national government and donor groups, especially ready-to-eat food for the evacuees who fear returning to their homes because of aftershocks.

In addition to the casualties, the Church of the Nuestra Senora de la Luz Parish (Church of Our Lady of Light) was completely destroyed. Pictures of the church, now reduced to rubble, have been circulating online, showing the extent of the devastation caused by the quake.

“The church was totally flattened. There is no more church in that area,” Chatto said.

One report said a couple of churchgoers were inside when the church collapsed.

The Loon church, constructed in 1853 (although the parish was established in 1753), was said to be the most beautiful of the 19^thcentury churches in Bohol. It was made from “finely cut coral” based on the design of Domingo Escondrillas, a government engineer.

Among its heritage features are carvings of Biblical text on its columns.

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