The Home of Cebu

(UPDATE 2) A tsunami alert has been lifted but vigilance should remain, Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum said. "As of 2:30 pm, level 2 is canceled. The alert was for the eastern side of Negros and western coast of Cebu. But we will continue to monitor," said Solidum in a phone interview  with Yahoo! Southeast Asia.E arlier in  the day , Phivolcs placed several areas on tsunami alert Level 2, following a 6.9- magnitude  quake in Negros and Cebu. Panic and worry gripped several PH areas while netizens called for calm and prayers as Phivolcs issued the bulletin warning to alert the public for unusual waves. Phivolcs reported a strong local earthquake with a depth of 10 km occurred offshore Negros Oriental  at 11:49 a.m. “People are advised to stay away from the shoreline. People should not go to the coast  to watch  the tsunami. People whose houses are very near coastal areas of Negros and Cebu islands are strongly advised to be watchful,” Phivolcs earlier warned. Acc

A 6.8 earthquake struck off the coast of the central Philippines on Monday, killing at least one person and causing panic in cities where buildings shook, authorities said. The quake hit 70 kilometres (44 miles) north of the city of Dumaguete on  Negros  Island at 11:49 am (0349 GMT) at a depth of 46 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said. The Philippine Institute for Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) measured it as 6.9 at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometres, centred off the heavily populated central island province of Negros and Cebu. "One child was crushed to death by a collapsed wall in Negros," Office of Civil Defence chief Benito Ramos told AFP. He said the violent shaking of buildings in Cebu city -- roughly 50 kilometres from where the quake struck -- led to broken windows and cracks on the walls, but no high rises were believed to have sustained major damage. Philippine seismologists and local residents said there was panic in Cebu - the country's