MANILA, Philippines (AP) — An offshore earthquake of magnitude 6.9 collapsed walls of houses and buildings late Tuesday in a central Philippine province, killing at least 20 people, injuring many others and sending residents scrambling out of homes into darkness as the intense shaking cut off power, officials said.

The epicenter of the earthquake, which was set off by a local fault, was about 17 kilometers (10 miles) northeast of Bogo, a coastal city of about 90,000 people in Cebu province where at least 14 residents died, disaster-mitigation officer Rex Ygot told The Associated Press by telephone.

The death toll in Bogo was expected to rise. Workers were trying to transport a backhoe to hasten search and rescue efforts in a cluster of shanties in a mountain village hit by a landslide and boulders, he said.

“It’s hard to move in the area because there are hazards,” Glenn Ursal, another disaster-mitigation officer told The AP, adding some survivors were brought to a hospital.

Six people, including three coast guard personnel, a firefighter and a child, were killed separately in San Remigio town, south of Bogo, the town’s vice mayor, Alfie Reynes, told the DZMM radio network without elaborating how the victims died.

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