A 6.9-magnitude quake struck Cebu province late Tuesday and was followed by strong aftershocks

A powerful earthquake struck the central Philippines late Tuesday, killing at least 69 people and injuring dozens more, local officials said on Wednesday.

Rescue teams searched for survivors trapped under debris as the authorities worked to restore electricity and water supplies disrupted by the quake.

The 6.9-magnitude quake struck off northern Cebu near the coastal city of Bogo, home to around 90,000 people, and was followed by four aftershocks measuring 5.0 or higher.

Rescuers, including soldiers, police, and volunteers with backhoes and sniffer dogs, combed the wreckage for survivors. The authorities declared a state of calamity in parts of Cebu as the quake toppled buildings, cut power, and rocked a bridge so violently that motorcyclists were forced to cling to the railings.

Bogo's main hospital was overwhelmed after the shallow quake struck just 19km away. Officials warned that the city's death toll is likely to rise.

More than a dozen people were killed in nearby Medellin when the ceilings and walls of their homes collapsed, local disaster officials said.

In San Remigio, five people died when the walls crumbled as they fled a basketball game, Mayor Alfie Reynes told local media.

Cebu Governor Pamela Baricuatro, whose province is home to 3.4 million people and is a major tourist hub, said the full scale of the damage in Bogo and surrounding northern towns would not be clear until daylight.

"It could be worse than we think," Baricuatro warned in a video message on Facebook.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology issued a tsunami alert, urging residents in Cebu and the neighboring provinces of Leyte and Biliran to avoid the coastlines. The warning was lifted after no unusual wave activity was detected.

The quake struck less than a week after back-to-back storms Bualoi and Ragasa lashed the region. The Philippines, located on the Pacific 'Ring of Fire', is among the world's most disaster-prone countries, frequently hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.