43 people died from the earthquake in Philippines

Philippine rescue teams are using bare hands and shovels to dig through the rubble to find survivors after the earthquake caused landslides and collapsed homes and killing dozens of people took place yesterday.

Filipinos to panic runs on high, after the earthquake yesterday caused a tsunami warning. (AP)

According to AFP , earthquake magnitude 6.8 occurred in a narrow strait between two islands are populated Negros and Cebu, followed by 200 aftershocks caused panic to people all day in the Philippines through. The head of the local military authorities said 43 people are confirmed dead, but officials warned the death toll will increase. In addition, dozens of others injured and still missing, while landslides have blocked many roads in mountainous areas and that rescuers can not reach.

"Heavy equipment that we recommend to the local government is yet to come, because the roads and bridges are blocked. We are using their hands and shovels to dig through the rubble the infected stuck ", Alvin Futalan, city police chief Guihulngan in Negros, one of the places most heavily damaged, said.

39 people have been reported killed in Guihulngan, a coastal city with 100,000 inhabitants. This city is located on the slopes of the mountains and close to the earthquake epicenter. Fatulan said, markets, and court houses in this area has collapsed or damaged, while landslides buried some houses completely. He said hundreds of soldiers and volunteers have joined the rescue team to clean up the rubble, while they must race against time to find people still missing.

Provincial Governor of Negros Oriental, Roel Degamo, said he feared many other casualties were not reported. "Sadly, we estimate the death toll could still rise", Degamo told AFP .

Degamo He said that communication was cut off in some areas and that the information in remote areas become blind. In addition, people still feel dizzy and afraid to return home, after dozens of aftershocks occurred battle. "We sometimes have to stop searching for the victim and ran to safety, because a series of consecutive games aftershocks still appear after the quake," said Degamo.

In Cebu, 2nd largest city in the Philippines with 2.3 million people and is a popular tourist destination, the epicenter about 50 kilometers, people feel the intense shaking when the quake struck, but not deaths reported here.