Philippine authorities announced on Wednesday that a powerful earthquake that struck the central archipelago on Tuesday evening with a magnitude of 6.9 has killed “up to 60 people,” according to Raffaelito Alejandro, Deputy Head of the Civil Defense Office.

Alejandro told reporters in Manila: “We are receiving an increasing number of reports of casualties, so the situation is extremely fluid. We have received reports indicating up to 60 fatalities from this earthquake.”