Twenty dead after earthquake in Philippines

An earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale has hit the central Philippines, killing at least 20 people, reports say.

The earthquake struck at 08:12 (01:12 CET) underneath the island of Bohol, in a region popular with tourists.

People were killed as buildings and markets collapsed in Bohol and the nearby Cebu province. Several buildings and churches were damaged by the quake.

Officials say that most of the casualties were in Cebu, which is considered the second major city in the country.

Neil Sanchez, head of the Cebu disaster management office, said that they were trying to confirm reports that a school had collapsed.

"Communication lines are quite difficult here.  Even the disaster risk reduction management office has been damaged. We had to move elsewhere," he said.

The tremor triggered power outages in parts of the province, local media reported.

The earthquake, which locals described as being "a very strange and frightening experience", hit on a national holiday for the country - a fact which could have saved the lives of many students as they would otherwise have been at school.

The Philippines often experiences earthquakes.  In fact, in August 2012 a 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck off the eastern Philippine island of Samar, causing widespread power cuts and tsunami evacuations.